CUNY biologists discover a turtle that glows (+video)

There is no doubt of the biological diversity that the nature holds, but not a lot of individuals would have expected to come across a turtle that actually glows. According to the reports, a team of biologists has discovered a special species of Hawkbill turtles.glowing-turtle

The Hawkbill turtle was seen emitting a different kind of lights as the biologists discovered it on the Solomon Islands. This is not the first animal with fluorescence, but this is the first turtle that has been discovered with such a property.

An associate professor of biology at the City University of New York exclaimed that the sight of the turtle came as an absolute shock as they had not expected such a thing in their wildest thoughts. The discovery was made during an expedition near the islands of Papua New Guinea. The location has brought down the attention of many geographic explorers, biologists and researchers.

David Grubber, associate professor of biology at the City University of New York added that “The turtle’s appearance was unexpected and took everyone by surprise”. He also added that it is in the recent times that many biologists and scientists have started paying attention to bio-fluorescent marine animals. The phenomenon is quite rare in land animals.

The Hawkbill Turtle in consideration had an array of neon green and red colors to show that literally made the biologists spellbound. As it happens, in most of the cases, fluorescence is mostly found in either jellyfish or corals. The presence of fluorescence in a reptile clearly goes to show that the chemicals have moved up the food chain of marine life, quite a bit. The biologists also added that it is quite an astounding thing to witness.

Visit National Geographic for the exclusive video of glowing turtle.

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