If you want, however, you can pick up a blacklight scorpion night light to make your exotic pet look even cooler. Your scorpion does not require a blacklight or any other type of UV light in order to be healthy. Does my arachnid need a uv light?ĭespite the apparent usefulness of this protective trait, it doesn’t seem that UV light provides any additional benefit to scorpions or arachnids that glow in the dark. And when they are in moonlight, or blacklight, their bodies do in fact glow a blue-green color. Their eyes are tuned in to see blue and green light the best. This is a trait that would be beneficial in protecting scorpions from nocturnal predators in the wild.īasically, scorpions most likely use their glow as an extra way to find their way around. If their bodies are sensitive to these low level UV waves, then objects that block them could indicate something to hide behind. Because scorpions are sensitive to UV light and excess heat, scientists hypothesize that this trait may help scorpions determine when it’s safest to come to the surface or perhaps where they can find a hiding spot.īlack lights, in fact, imitate the low UV emissions reflected from moonlight, which makes sense given that scorpions are nocturnal animals. But honestly, it’s pretty cool to have a pet that reflects visible light when a blacklight shines on it. Some news sources try to spin glow-in-the-dark scorpions as something horrifying. That’s exactly what you’ll find out here. How do UV lights make scorpions glow? And are these scorpion night lights necessary? In fact, a lot of scorpion and other invertebrate owners buy special lights that allow them to see this special ability. And why wouldn’t you? Scorpions can glow in the dark, after all. But if you own or are thinking about owning a scorpion as a pet, then you probably have a different perspective. Watch the video below to hear more details and see the neon creatures in action.Scorpions “are usually quite maligned and persecuted against” because of their creepy appearance, according to Professor Bryan Fry of University of Queensland. It’s possible that, once a scorpion realizes it’s a bright night, it may decide to seek shelter for fear of being seen too easily by some predator. The light didn’t affect the nonfluorescent specimens’ behavior, whereas the glowing ones spent more time in the covered half of the container. He conducted an experiment to test this, too, which entailed putting fluorescent and nonfluorescent scorpions in half-covered containers and then exposing them to UV light. Kloock believes the most likely explanation is that scorpions use their fluorescence to detect light. Under a full moon, when the scorpions’ fluorescence was at maximum capacity, the glowing ones attracted fewer flies, suggesting that the glow may actually hurt their ability to ensnare a snack. To test this, Kloock devised an experiment in which he blocked fluorescence in some scorpions and compared the number of flies they attracted at night to that of glowing scorpions. It’s also been suggested that it functions as a natural sunscreen, which would’ve been especially critical back before the Earth’s ozone layer existed.Īnother idea is that fluorescence helps scorpions entice prey. One, as Nerdist reports, is simply that it’s a “relic trait”-some holdover from earlier on in scorpion evolution that no longer serves any purpose. Over the course of his research, Kloock has come up with several hypotheses to explain the phenomenon. And in the following YouTube video, Veritasium host Derek Muller explores some of them with Carl Kloock, a biology professor at California State University Bakersfield who’s devoted more than 10 years to solving the mystery. Like certain other glowing animals, it’s not exactly clear why scorpions have this talent, but scientists have theories. Most scorpion species are fluorescent, meaning they glow-in this case, a dazzling bluish green-when exposed to ultraviolet ( UV) light. Next time you go hunting for scorpions under cover of darkness, here’s a handy hack: Bring a black light.
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