Why Scorpions Glow In Black Light.

pimpin_posey · Feb 21, 2006

So I may be the last one to know but i figured out why scorpions glow under black lights. They glow because their skin excretes a chemical that keeps moister in their bodies. The scopions themselves dont neccisarily glow its the chemical covering their whole body.

Hoosier · Feb 22, 2006

how did you find out about this?

Tony · Feb 22, 2006

I'll go first-they dont have skin...

ScorpDemon · Feb 22, 2006

be sure to pass that info on to all the herpetologists out there. They still don't know why scorpions glow under UV light. Just give them a heads up, it will save them a lot of time, money and further research and study.

pimpin_posey · Feb 22, 2006

Hey

I could be wrong it just seems like a really logical way to think of it. and fine their "exoskeleton" ;P better

kahoy · Feb 22, 2006

might try this

try using Black light in a...

newly dead scorp

on 1 day dead scorp

on 2 day dead scorp

3 day

4 day

5 day

1 month (if still whole)

any removed part of a dead scorp

on a sheded exoskeleton

on molting scorp (i mean while a scorp is molting)

sundried scorp

dead/alive scorp body underwater

cut an alive scorp in half and UV it.

this is for experimenting only not for doing such thing.

i would try this if i have any UV.

skinheaddave · Feb 22, 2006

A fair bit is known about how scorpions flouresce and it is actually molecules within the exoskeleton, not secreted. That being said, there may be a connection with the chemicals and water retention, as mentioned by Cloudsley-Thompson in a brief snippet in a journal article (I'm at work now and can't look it up, but I have the paper at home). I am curious how you came to this conclusion.

Cheers,
Dave

ScorpDude · Feb 22, 2006

Could their ability to glow be linked with their resistance to radiation? maybe the exoskeleton reflects it as visable light, so none of it is absorbed.

reverendsterlin · Feb 22, 2006

if it is due to molecules in the exoskeleton then why will the spermatafors flouresce as well, due to the liquid in the packet?

fusion121 · Feb 22, 2006

The best theory seems to be that scorpions glow as a result of the natural make up of their cuticle. As their exoskeleton hardens (after a moult) a process of oxidative cross linking occurs. This process produces the chemical that makes scorpion glow; a pretty simple molecule that sits in the cuticle of the scorpion, when it interacts with UV light it emits that characteristic blue/green light that we are all familiar with. The interesting question is whether the fluorescence is simply a serendipitous by-product of the chemistry of the scorpion cuticle, or whether it actually serves a purpose.

fusion121 · Feb 22, 2006

reverendsterlin said:
why will the spermatafors flouresce as well?

They don't

lucanidae · Feb 22, 2006

be sure to pass that info on to all the herpetologists out there. They still don't know why scorpions glow under UV light.

I don't think they ever will.....herpetologists study reptiles and amphibians, I'd say it's the arachnologists who would be interested.

I've always been told the chemical is some ion of phosphorus that is produced by the scorpion and not uptaken. Many researchers will tell you it's a passive by-product of some other chemical pathway and actually has no purpose. Scorpions can't see it, and there is not much if any UV radiation at night for anything else to see it. It seems to serve no biological purpose whatsoever.

Water retention is accomplished by the wax layer of the epicuticle which is located directly underneath of the cement layer.

Ecilious · Feb 22, 2006

I blame God.

skinheaddave · Feb 22, 2006

fusion121 said:
The interesting question is whether the fluorescence is simply a serendipitous by-product of the chemistry of the scorpion cuticle, or whether it actually serves a purpose.

The interesting question indeed.

lucanidae said:
Scorpions can't see it,

Actually, they can see within the range of the emmitted light. In fact, the peak for sensitivity for the extraoccular light sense of Urodacus sp. as presented by Zwicky (1970) falls right in the green-blue portion of the spectrum. As for the other biological purpose, there are several theories I've heard proposed or thought of myself -- but none have been tested to the point where they can be supported as causes from an adaptive standpoint. For the bit about its link to water retention, refer to: CONSTANTINOU C. & CLOUDSLEY-THOMPSON J.L. (1985) Transpiration in ultra-violet light from the scorpion. News. Brit. Arachnol. Soc., 44: 7. To summarize, the water loss from a single specimen of A.crassicauda was evaluated over three days. It was then placed under UV light and evaluated again over fifteen days. The results were practically significant, though with only one specimen they were obviously not statistically significant. Regardless, it does raise some interesting questions. As far as I know, there was no published follow-up to this little experiment.

Cheers,
Dave

TRowe · Feb 22, 2006

Whether this is relevant or not I do not know, but, I've noticed that the edges of silicon wafers fluoresce almost identically to scorpions when exposed to ultraviolet light. I wonder if the fluorescent chemical is shared between most circuit boards and scorpions? If that's the case, then it may make it very easy to isolate that chemical in scorpions.

Just some food for thought,

Tim

skinheaddave · Feb 22, 2006

http://chem.ps.uci.edu/~dlvanvra/peptides.html

Cheers,
Dave

redhourglass · Feb 22, 2006

Hi all,

This topic is and always will be a great debate. I concur with Oliver's statement below which in my opinion is more intriquing from an evolutionary standpoint or not...

fusion121 said:
The interesting question is whether the fluorescence is simply a serendipitous by-product of the chemistry of the scorpion cuticle, or whether it actually serves a purpose.

Great link Dave !

Sinc. Chad

kahoy · Feb 23, 2006

great link Dave, thanks for added info.

for me,
better to ask an scorp!!!

lucanidae · Feb 23, 2006

I accessed the study you sent me the citation for. I don't understand this expieriment, they simply put a scorpion under UV light and it lost more water..... kindof. In order to make this a good study they would need more scorpions as you mentioned and also need to strip the scorpion of the UV reflecting chemicals and test against a scorpion that did have them. Or they could do a paired test, test an individual, then strip the chemicals and test the same individual. With at least 30 individuals they can call it significant.

The thing of it is, there is zero or almost zero UV light emitted in the desert at night. So even if the scorpions could see the reflections it wouldn't mean anything because their is no UV light to reflect. Also, water loss dosen't seem to be the issue in terms of light, scopions are noctural and spend the daylight hours out of the sun; once again, we are lacking UV light to reflect. We should remember that scorpions were orginally acquatic (and HUGE) and perhaps (as suggested by some) the phosphourescent chemicals are a leftover byproduct of from something important to aquatic life. We do see a most bioilluminescence in ocean fauna.

kahoy · Feb 23, 2006

yep thats right!!!

ive seen also those corals that glow under the sea, but when raised to the surface, they become greyish and dull. i did find also some of that statement is some biology books.:?

probobly in their past life, they use this luminance to interact to each other,:? or...

...i dont know! :wall:

better ask kingkong. he got a lot of those giant in his island

. or better go to skull island if you didnt understand kingkong.

i love those gaint crickets, but still hoping not to have me as their FOOD!!!

Why Scorpions Glow In Black Light.

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