A glowing fish that "lights up" itself by eating seaflies

A new study in Japan has found that a luminous monofin fish in the ocean does not have a luminous gene itself, but instead obtains luminous proteins by eating luminous plankton. This is the first time researchers have discovered this phenomenon of "stealing proteins".

Researchers at Chubu University and other institutions in Japan published a paper in the new issue of the American journal Science Advances, saying that they analyzed the luminous marine fish of the pseudo-singlefin fish and found that the light it emits comes from a protein called luciferase, and it does not have its own genes to synthesize this protein.

The analysis showed that luciferase in pseudo-singlefin fish was the same as luciferase in luminescent plankton seaflies, which are the food of pseudo-singlefin fish. Animals usually digest protein after eating it, but this study showed that monofin fish do not digest luciferase after eating sea fireflies, but directly absorb luciferase into the cells of specific organs, thus "lighting" themselves.

The team said this was the first time the particular phenomenon had been identified, and they named it Kleptoprotein, which means "stealing protein." The researchers will further investigate the evolutionary process of "protein theft" behavior of monofinfish, the associated genetic mechanisms, and whether this phenomenon is prevalent in the biological community. They argue that exploring mechanisms and mimicking their use could yield results that could be useful in areas such as medicine. (Reporter Hua Yi)