Mushrooms that Glow in the Dark
Fri, Dec 5, 2008
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No, you’re not hallucinating; you really are seeing bright green mushrooms, but if you are partial to the odd magic mushie, these images won’t faze you in the slightest.
These neon green mushrooms, or Mycena chlorophos, to use the technical term, emerge during the rainy season in Japanese and Brazilian forests, scattering the floor with glowing spores. The bases of tree trunks, fallen branches, leaf litter and moist soil provide perfect breeding grounds for the mushrooms.
Found mostly on Mesameyama island in Ugui, Japan and Ribeira Valley Tourist State Park, Brazil, the appearance of these garish looking fungi is due to bioluminescence, one of the weird but wonderful reactions that happen naturally in many plants and animals.
Bioluminescence occurs when the natural chemical energy produced within an organism is converted to light energy. The result is an amazing display of natural fluorescent light, or ‘cold light’ (as opposed to red hot light). The color of bioluminescence is normally at the blue/green end of the visible light spectrum.
This organic light display can be seen in the late summer months, and although there are nightly visits to the forests in Japan, these rare shrooms only thrive where they are because they’ve been relatively undisturbed by humans. So, for now it’s probably best to enjoy them from the comfort of your own home, that way they’ll be around for a while longer. And, no, you can’t get high on them, although no doubt someone has tried!
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December 6th, 2008 at 3:53 am
Thought you might find this little fact interesting.
I have recently covered this chemical reaction in a biology class. The chemical that becomes luminescent is called luciferin (after the devil, Lucifer). The reaction is catalyzed by the enzyme luciferase. And the light emitted is usually used to avoid predators or signal to mates.
December 7th, 2008 at 6:12 am
The one thing that I have read about these mushrooms is that the glow is actually very faint. The reason these photos capture the light so well is because it is a long exposure. Light was gathered over a period of time on the negative. I still find these mushrooms fascinating though.
December 7th, 2008 at 8:10 am
Marsel: “Lucifer” is Latin for “bearer of light,” from the Latin root, “lux.” This moniker was applied to the devil only after the Old Testament was translated into Latin, due to his blinding splendor, being as he was the most beautiful of God’s creations. Before that (and still, depending on whom you talk to) it was the name of the Evenstar/Morningstar, aka the planet Venus, which is the first heavenly light (except for the Sun and Moon) seen after sunset, or the last after sunrise, depending on the time of year. Also, why would mushrooms use light to signal each other? Mushrooms can’t see. What kind of school are you going to?
December 7th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Actually, i learned about something similar in one of my biology classes, my teacher has a tendency to go off on tangents, and one of them led to him describing the foxfire mushroom, which can be seen in many forest preserves here in the US. its called the foxfire mushroom, and i know that it lives in the northern midwest, but its probably found elsewhere too
December 8th, 2008 at 7:56 am
What is the evolutionary and environmental factors have caused these mushrooms to evolve Bioluminescence? What specifically shaped their evolution there in Japan?
December 8th, 2008 at 8:04 am
Actually, the mushrooms do really glow that brightly.
I’m in Australia and we get these (or similar) glowing mushrooms here too. I have seen them at night in nature reserves near my house and even once growing beneath my window after a wet few weeks! I was a bit shocked to find them in my own garden.
They are amazing, if it’s dark you can clearly see the glowing.
And Rick, Marsel did not say that the mushrooms use the light to signal each other. He said that in nature, light is usually emitted as a signal to avoid predators or find mates. Of course mushrooms can’t see, but he wasn’t talking specifically about them.
December 11th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Is there anything bioluminescent in the U.K.? I’d love to try taking a photo.
I don’t understand how the mushrooms can see / send signals to each other, they’re just a plant.
December 11th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Well, Lucifer means morning star, bearer of light and refers to a match so…
December 11th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Oh, oops, Rick already explained that.
December 12th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
How do we know mushrooms aren’t signaling each other. The camera in a long exposure can’t detect if the light blinks on and off like in fireflies. I know we presuppose plants don’t do that, but why? How do we know?
December 16th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Awesome, seeing these in the forest at night must be really haunting
December 16th, 2008 at 3:12 am
’shopped
December 17th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
mushrooms pictures are sensational. I am amateur photographer and I would also like to photograph mushrooms luminous. Unfortunately in Europe we have not heard of them
December 23rd, 2008 at 8:36 am
Uhm, Joe, mushrooms aren’t plants just so you know, they don’t have chlorophyll and they don’t do photosynthesis, etc. They belong to the fungi kingdom, they’re heterotrophic organisms.
March 19th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
dude i ate one of these. it was pretty chill.
April 3rd, 2009 at 5:31 am
can you get blue glowing mushrooms and are fluro purple slaters posionous
April 18th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
If you want to see random bioluminescence… go to an unlit beach in the night… You can see random stuff from glowing sand to glowing water to glowing foam… All thanks to a number of bioluminescent bacteria…
June 4th, 2009 at 6:49 am
They’re always blue in video games.
June 21st, 2009 at 1:11 am
I used to live in Southend on Sea, UK and in the summer if you go out in a boat in the summer, the water disturbed by the motor or your hand can glow really brightly due to the bioluminescent plankton. It’s normally other types of plankton to bacteria, such as copeopods or dinoflagellates. One of natures best free shows IMO.
August 7th, 2009 at 10:59 am
If you eat the glowing cap when you hold a drained battery, the cap mushroom will charge the battery.
October 12th, 2009 at 8:16 am
It would be wonderful to be able to cultivate these mushrooms in one’s house. To have them around.
January 19th, 2010 at 7:07 am
They are also found in the Pacific islands, I found one one night while out hunting for bats.