What is the reason behind bioluminescent displays in phytoplankton?

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AryaUnderfoot
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Can we see it under normal circumstances? Or do we need the help of special UV light source to see it? I've read that Aequorea victoria can emit bioluminescence with a ring of green dots at the margin of its bell, but normally it is almost invisible to us. What does that mean?
 
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Ryan_m_b said:
Are you specifically asking about A. victoria or bioluminescence in general? In the latter case the answer is unequivocally yes. The most famous example is probably the firefly, which really are quite something if you ever go to a country that has them.
About A. victoria.
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I mean, if we can see the green ring under normal circumstances, why would we need a fluorescence microscope? And I read that they don't usually produce the ring, unless they are disturbed? I couldn't quite grasp that
 

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The (GFP: Green Fluorescent Protein) fluorescence researchers use under a microscope is only one component of what the jellyfish uses. Prior to the isolation of GFP, a large complex (Aquorin) was isolated which is calcium activated and has chemically driven emission of light.
The jellyfish's chemical drivers (chemo-luminescence) aren't often used by researchers because fluorescence is more convenient.
Aquorin used to be used as an intracellular calcium detector, but there are better things for that now.

Aquatic organisms have ways to control when their show their fluorescence so they can turn it off at certain times. This includes a lot of them which have symbiotic bacteria that actually do the fluorescing.