--- title: This Turtle Is Fluorescent, And Scientists Aren't Sure Why | TIME description: The recent discovery of a fluorescent hawksbill sea turtle could shed more light on the role of biofluorescence in nature. canonical: https://time.com/video/lR9QRE9x/ og:title: This Turtle Is Fluorescent, And Scientists Aren't Sure Why og:description: The recent discovery of a fluorescent hawksbill sea turtle could shed more light on the role of biofluorescence in nature. og:url: https://time.com/video/lR9QRE9x/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/lR9QRE9x/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Turtle Is Fluorescent, And Scientists Aren't Sure Why twitter:description: The recent discovery of a fluorescent hawksbill sea turtle could shed more light on the role of biofluorescence in nature. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/lR9QRE9x/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # This Turtle Is Fluorescent, And Scientists Aren't Sure Why > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: This Turtle Is Fluorescent, And Scientists Aren't Sure Why [Watch (HLS stream): This Turtle Is Fluorescent, And Scientists Aren't Sure Why](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lR9QRE9x.m3u8) (0:51)  _Published 2015-09-30. The recent discovery of a fluorescent hawksbill sea turtle could shed more light on the role of biofluorescence in nature._ --- Jul 27, 2023 6:54 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Endangered Cardón Sea Turtle Hatchlings Released on Venezuelan Coast](/video/tQeFDu9g/) ### Endangered Cardón Sea Turtle Hatchlings Released on Venezuelan Coast [Amputee Sea Turtle Swims Again Thanks To New Prosthetic Fin](/video/NC8Tdycc/) ### Amputee Sea Turtle Swims Again Thanks To New Prosthetic Fin [Kids Aren't Alright](/video/VkFxE2KI/) ### Kids Aren't Alright --- ## Transcript This is not a typical hawksbill sea turtle. This is is a typical hawksbill sea turtle. Spot the difference? This hawksbill is fluorescent. Which is something hawksbill's aren't really known to be. It's not glowing like a firefly or that weird plankton that turns tides blue. That's bioluminescence, no it's " biofluorescent ," according to marine biologist David Gruber, who shot this video. The way it works, is rather than producing it's own light, the turtle's shell reflects blue light as red and green, something you can see is clearly not Not happening with this hawksbill. Researchers have recently discovered biofluorescence in some fish and crustaceans, but never a reptile like the hawksbill. While biofluorescence is used in some animals to attract prey, hawksbill largely feed on sponges and algae, so a more likely hypothesis, as another marine biologist told National Geographic, is camouflage. 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