Glowing under UV light

This is Star Coral - Favites petagona under UV light. Some species of corals have the ability to glow when UV light is shine on them.

Picture of the same colony of Corals under regular LED light can be seen here :

comments (4)

Ferdy Christant

Lion

A beautiful experiment! Posted 8 years ago
1. Albert Kang
  
  Lion
  
  Yes, I know others have done it before and wanted to see it for myself.
  Unfortunately, the Underwater UV light I bought is a cheap one, its the 'spotlight' type, hence I could only use the side of the light to take pictures as the 'spotlight' area, which is the top left corner is over exposed :( Posted 8 years ago
2. 1. Ferdy Christant
    
    Lion
    
    I'm thinking the results may be even more impressive from a bit more distance, not sure if the light has that kind of range? Posted 8 years ago
  2. 1. Albert Kang
      
      Lion
      
      Yes, I took video of the night dive while turning off my LED lights, and it was quite a unique experience. Also took similar pics of other corals that glows, but don't have the IDs of them yet, will post them later or when I get their IDs.
      
      And unfortunately, the underwater UV light spoilt, it was a cheap one anyway, just to try it out. Will look for a better one for future use :D Posted 8 years ago

The Favites petagona

''Favites pentagona'' is a species of stony coral in the family Merulinidae, sometimes known as larger star coral. It is native to the Indo-Pacific region and its range extends from the Red Sea through the Indian Ocean to the Western Pacific Ocean. This is a common species throughout its wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".

Info 2 0

Similar species: Stony Corals

Species identified by Albert Kang