The lighting that FiveDiveGear manufacturers makes the marine world come alive with fluorescence during night dives. Colors that you would not see during the day jump out at you as you explore the night reef. Take a look at the video below and their Youtube channel for great examples of what these 6 watt units can do.

What is fluorescence?

Adam Blundell, M.S. writes about ‘The Seen and Unseen World of Coral Fluorescence‘ in Advanced Aquarist’s June, 2005 issue:

Fluorescence is a process whereby a matter of energy is absorbed by a substance, and then released by that substance with less energy. In this case a light source of high energy (lets say blue light) is absorbed by a substance (a coral) and then released with less energy (i.e. green light or red light).

Dana Riddle writes what may be the most comprehensive series of articles on coral coloration & fluorescence:

1. Coral Coloration: Fluorescence: Part 1
2. Coral Coloration, Part 2: Fluorescence: Pigments 510 – 565 and Notes on Green Fluorescent Proteins
3. Coral Coloration, Part 3: Pigments Responsible for
4. Coral Coloration, Part 4: Red Fluorescent Pigments, a Preliminary Report of Effects of Various Environmental Factors and Color Mixing
5. Coral Coloration, Part 5: Non-fluorescent Chromoproteins (CP-480 to CP-562)
6. Coral Coloration, Part 6: Non-fluorescent Chromoproteins (CP-568 – CP-610) And A Newly Discovered Colorant
7. Coral Coloration – Part 7: Coral Reflectance, Chromoproteins and Environmental Factors Affecting Non-fluorescent Pigmentation
8. Coral Coloration, Part 8: Blue and Green Coral Fluorescence: Environmental Factors Affecting Fluorescent Pigmentation
9. Coral Coloration, Part 9: Tridacna and Other Photosynthetic Clam Coloration, With Observations on Possible Functions

Our thanks to Brandon Arroyo for bringing this dive video to our attention!