"Okay, a mollusk walks up to this sea cucumber and the sea cucumber turns to the mollusk and says, 'With fronds like these, who needs anemones?'"
—Finding Nemo

When it comes to making science engaging for kids, the American Museum of Natural History likes to tackle the tough stuff. Astrophysics. Genetic manipulation. Species differentiation. Dinosaur cladistics. And recently, bioluminescence in OLogy's (Marine Biology: The Living Oceans). Most of our features in this kid's site are more informative through articles and narrative (that often comes directly out of the Museum's kids magazines). But we try to keep things light by adding little gems (Glowing in the Ocean) into the mix.

This is an anglerfish, an incredible deep-sea creature with the intent to get lunch. Just like you would out on the river or lakeside, this extraordinary fisherman lures other animals with its glowing antenna looking like a scrumptious bit of food. On a side note, anglerfish also have a very curious sex life (but that's clearly another story). Fortunately when I was working on this animation, the new Finding Nemo trailer had just been released ("The Light"). And both in form and movement, the brief cameo with the scary anglerfish proved very useful (not to mention, it turned out, fairly scientifically accurate). Initial designs were clunky, so some four drafts later, this version proved (along with the not-to-tiny task of the tiny fish feast) the smoothest faux-underwater work I've done to date.

What are the other functions of bioluminescence, you say? (Glad you asked.)