Night Flower Fairy with a Firefly... and learn about Bioluminescence from Curiosity Stream's Light On Earth

Night Flower Fairy with a Firefly

Night Flower Fairies are important pollinators in some parts of the world.  You may be surprised to learn that fireflies are pollinators.  Well, the fireflies are often directed by Night Flower Fairies.  Night Flower Fairies are active at night and they have excellent night vision.  IF you saw a group of fireflies, some of those flashes you see are probably the Night Flower Fairies directing the swarm.  The fireflies eat pollen and nectar so they appreciate the Night Flower Fairies helping them find food.  The result is pollination of many species of flowers.   

I first saw fireflies out in Eastern North America.  We went to visit cousins in New York State . . . in Ithica, New York.  Here in Utah, USA, there are no fireflies anywhere near us.  I was absolutely fascinated by the fireflies.  I probably saw flashes from Night Flower Fairies as well, but I did not know about them back then.  

A lot of the following info I learned by watching a show on Curiosity Stream channel in a movie called Light On Earth.  It is about bioluminescence.  (Curiosity Stream is a streaming service that we just got for Christmas... and NO they are not paying me for the endorsement.)  

There are many species of fireflies.  They each flash thier bioluminescent abdomen in a pattern unique to their species.  The males and females communicate via the flashes.  The male flashes first.  A female determines how good a male is by how precise he is with his flashes.  It is a language of light flashes.  IF she approves of his flashes then she flashes the correct pattern back and they meet to mate.  Some species of fireflies flash together in a pulsing flash.  

Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism.  It most certainly started with bioluminescent bacteria.  There are many bioluninescent species:  fireflies, millipedes, & some earthworms (in France).  Many sea creatures make their own light too.  

Millipedes, in the high mountains of California, USA glow with their own bioluminescence and it is probably a warning to nightime predators to not eat them. . . because they are poisonous.  Why do the earthworms in France glow?   Generally speaking, a trait exists in an organism because it gives them a survival advantage.   The show pionted out that the worm glows when a beatle attacks the worm.  But the glowing worm does not seem to stop the attack of the beatle.  

Dinoflagalates in the ocean are tiny creatures that produce light.  They are microscopoic but 1000 x bigger than bacteria.  They are seen glowing in Tasmania, but they are not always in the glow mode. 

They glow when disturbed or attacked.  So it is possible that the dinoflagelates glow to light up their shrimp predators so that bigger animals get the predator.  

IF you have seen the great movie Finding Nemo, then you have seen the deep sea Angler Fish.  They light up an appendage that attracts other fish and then they snap them up as dinner.  There are many many deep sea bioluminescent creatures deep in the ocean.  This includes viperfish, dragonfish, half eye squid, and many species of jellyfish.  Some deep sea animals use thier light making capabilities to catch prey and some use thier light making ability to defend themselves.  The firefly squid goes to a different color when they go to spawn and die near the surface.  Man harvest them as a local delicacy in Japan.

A few words on the Night Flower Fairy:  Night Flower Fairies, like all Fairies, can fly on their own, however, they have advanced technology...like all Fairies, and so they wear their antigravity belt for prolonged and faster flights.  

A final dreadful but interesting truth. . . there is a specie of fireflies where the female mimics the patterns of other species and so when the male shows up expecting to mate. . . he instead becomes dinner for the female.  Another female species notices fireflies caught in spider webs and she flies into the web and eats the spider's prey.  When the spider tries to attack her or grab back his prey, she flashes him so brightly that he can't see and he gets confused and loses his prey.   So the truth is that SOME fireflies are carniverous  .   .    .  and cannibalistic.  

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