New research from the American Museum of Natural History has uncovered that fish biofluorescence-a phenomenon where organisms absorb light and emit it as a different color-has independently evolved over 100 times in the past 112 million years. This widespread trait is especially prevalent among species inhabiting coral reefs.
Published in Nature Communications and PLOS One, the studies rev by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jun 17, 2025
New research from the American Museum of Natural History has uncovered that fish biofluorescence-a phenomenon where organisms absorb light and emit it as a different color-has independently evolved over 100 times in the past 112 million years. This widespread trait is especially prevalent among species inhabiting coral reefs.
Published in Nature Communications and PLOS One, the studies reveal that biofluorescent marine fishes exhibit a far broader range of colors than previously documented, emitting light across green, yellow, orange, and red wavelengths. The findings are based on a comprehensive analysis led by Ph.D. student Emily Carr of the Museum's Richard Gilder Graduate School.
"Researchers have known for a while that biofluorescence is quite widespread in marine animals, from sea turtles to corals, and especially among fishes," said Carr, lead author on both studies. "But to really get to the root of why and how these species use this unique adaptation-whether for camouflage, predation, or reproduction-we need to understand the underlying evolutionary story as well as the scope of biofluorescence as it currently exists."
Carr and her team compiled a list of 459 biofluorescent teleost species, 48 of which were previously unrecognized for this trait. Their results show that the earliest known instance of fish biofluorescence occurred in eels, and that reef-dwelling species evolved this trait roughly ten times more frequently than their non-reef counterparts. Notably, a surge in fluorescent diversity followed the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction, aligning with the rise of modern coral reefs.
"This trend coincides with the rise of modern coral-dominated reefs and the rapid colonization of reefs by fishes, which occurred following a significant loss of coral diversity in the K-Pg extinction," Carr said. "These correlations suggest that the emergence of modern coral reefs could have facilitated the diversification of fluorescence in reef-associated teleost fishes."
In the complementary PLOS One study, Carr's team used UV and blue excitation lighting and emission filters to examine specimens collected over the past 15 years in diverse locations including Greenland, Thailand, and the Solomon Islands. The analysis uncovered that some fish families emit as many as six distinct fluorescence peaks, spanning multiple spectral colors.
"The remarkable variation we observed across a wide array of these fluorescent fishes could mean that these animals use incredibly diverse and elaborate signaling systems based on species-specific fluorescent emission patterns," said John Sparks, Museum Curator and Carr's advisor. "As these studies show, biofluorescence is both pervasive and incredibly phenotypically variable among marine fishes. What we would really like to understand better is how fluorescence functions in these highly variable marine lineages, as well as its role in diversification."
The expanded understanding of biofluorescent wavelengths may also lead to the discovery of new fluorescent molecules with potential biomedical uses, such as fluorescence-guided diagnostics and treatments.
Research Report:Marine fishes exhibit exceptional variation in biofluorescent emission spectra
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