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"Disco Clam" Lights Up To Scare Predators Away
sciencehabit writes When predators get close, the bright, orange-lipped "disco clam" flashes them to scare them off. But it's not just the light that's important. Researchers have found that the clam has sulfur in its fleshy lips and tentacles and suspect that, like another clam species that drop tentacles laden with sulfuric acid to deter predators, the disco clam's sulfur also gets converted into a distasteful substance. The flashing may warn predators away, similar to the bright orange of a monarch butterfly warning birds of its toxic taste.
Why nowadays these useless sites require javascript to to display even the most basic content?
Religion: The greatest weapon of mass destruction of all time
Do we really need clickbait titles like "disco clam" on slashdot...
When predators get close, the bright, orange-lipped "disco clam" flashes them to scare them off.
My neighbor used to do the same thing.
Title: "DISCO CLAM" Lights up to scare predators away!
Summary: It's not really the light that scares them away.
Hey, idiot editors! Would you please post a summary that has some consistency with the title?
Top predators have coolest eye vision https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=...
Late? I'm stuck in the 80s late.
Disco Stu
If I wanted to see a disco ball, I'd go get smartbombed by Rooks vs Kings.
Buck Feta. You know what to do.
The article is about how the flashing acts as a defense mechanism against predatory shrimp.
Ah. Ah. Ah. Ha. Staying aliiiiiive!
Gently reply
I seriously thought by the language of "clam" and "predator", that this was some clam shaped object that little kids would tape to their back or something and it would light up when someone got too close.....
The bright, orange-lipped âoedisco clamâ (Ctenoides ales) became a phenom last year when researchers learned that its dazzling display (see video above) proved to be reflections of ambient light and not light produced by the clams themselves.
I've been in the marine reef keeping hobby for several decades, though I haven't had a tank set up in some time. I've kept this species for many years. They are call "electric flame scallops" in the hobby. Even though they are clams and not scallops. But I have to wonder who these researchers are to have just discovered that they do not actually produce light. I've known for at least 20 years that these clams produce this effect by moving parts of their mantle to expose a bluish white streaks under the reddish-orange part.
Still does not address GP's point.
I'm pretty sure I hooked up with her at a club years ago...
The similarities between humans and nature are amazing sometimes. I too would generally avoid any disco-related flashing things due to their 'poor taste.'
Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
Everyone knows it's a Disco DUCK, not a Disco Clam...
Unless it's a Disco Geoduck, I guess....
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
If I was a predator and a clam lights up with those horrible 1970s fashions of bright clashing colors of polyester material, yuck that would turn me off very quickly.
mfwright@batnet.com
That the link to "The flashing" is a text document, and has no visuals of the clam, let alone of it flashing.