Slashdot Mirror
Squid Eye for the Reflective Guy
gdyas writes "This week's Science details the discovery and characterization of a new class of proteins found only in squids called reflectins that create a soft, mirror-like surface by forming silvery reflective plates. The squid combines the use of these mirror-proteins with a lens and musculature that allow it to focus the light produced by symbiotic bacteria in its eyes in order to search for food. The possibilities for these proteins in nanotechnology and optics are very intriguing."
That's not really too interesting. Your gut is full of bacteria, and manages to keep them from infecting the rest of your body usually.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Science wasn't the only source to report about these Hawaiian squids. When I commented about this on my blog three days ago, I was mentioning other articles from Scientific American or Ananova. In particular, Scientific American said that this small squid has "a built-in flashlight made up of a previously unknown type of protein," that the authors of the study *dubbed* "reflectin". I'm not sure if this will lead to future nanolight tools, but at least it's *very intriguing* and Ananova reports that "the structure of the reflecting plates could offer inspiration to nanotechnology designers." My blog contains more details and includes a picture of the cute three-inch-long Hawaiian bobtail squid.
I do... but I'm afraid its not much help for the question you ask. Here is all the Science article says on the subject:
"The Hawaiian bobtail squid Euprymna scolopes (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae) (Fig. 1A) is similar to other cephalopod species that have been studied (6-9) in having both variably reflective tissues, such as the skin of the mantle, and statically reflective tissues, such as those associated with the eye, digestive gland, and light organ. The reflector of the bilobed light organ is a particularly well-developed tissue (Fig. 1, A to D) that modulates the luminescence produced by a population of the symbiotic bacterium Vibrio fischeri (10, 11). On each side of the adult light organ, symbiont-containing epithelial tissue comprises a core that is surrounded by the thick silvery reflector. Together with a muscle-derived lens, these dioptrics function to direct the bacterial luminescence ventrally (11). "
However, a quick Internet search turned up this old article, which seems to support the camouflage use of the organ. But it also sounds like we don't really know how the squid uses its light organ. Its not like we can just ask it! Like many things, it may have more than one use.
And here is Dr. McFall-Ngai's webpage, which summarizes her research and lists her other publications.
Cats, dogs, cows & horses have a reflective membrane called the tapetum behind their retina, which merely reflects light (which was not absorbed by the first pass through the retina) back into the retina - no bacteria involved.
You know that most species have symbiotes, right? You realize that you have over 50 symbiotes in your lower intestine doing digestions that you cannot, yes? Same process, I wager.
That's why E. Coli in food is so dangerous - not because it's particularly nasty, but because our immune system refuses to respond to it, so if it gets out of check you're not going to flush it on your own.
StoneCypher is Full of BS
Bioluminescent squid and their symbiotes were also covered (ogg file) on Quirks and Quarks, a CBC science show.
I'm all about glowing calamari, you see.
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