counter-illumination
Sign in to savethumb|upright=1.7|Principle of the counter-illumination camouflage of the firefly squid, Watasenia scintillans. When seen from below by a predator, the animal's light helps to match its brightness and colour to the sea surface above.
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Encyclopedic overview
16 sectionsContents
- In marine animals
- Mechanism
- Counter-illumination and countershading
- Photophores
- Matching light intensity and wavelength
- Autogenic or bacteriogenic bioluminescence
- Purpose
- Hiding from predators
- Hiding from prey
- Defeating counter-illumination camouflage
- Military prototypes
- For ships
- For aircraft
- Notes
- References
- External links
thumb|upright=1.7|Principle of the counter-illumination camouflage of the firefly squid, Watasenia scintillans. When seen from below by a predator, the animal's light helps to match its brightness and colour to the sea surface above.
Counter-illumination is a method of active camouflage seen in marine animals such as firefly squid and midshipman fish, and in military prototypes, producing light to match their backgrounds in both brightness and wavelength.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “counter-illumination” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.