Dive lights blinding aquatic life or permanently damaging their vision
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sealark
Contributor
I can tell you it doesnt do any damage to fish in depths that man can scuba. What happens when I night dive and shine my led light at a snapper is he will bolt away. So does AJs and gr. Now the deep sea with a submersible it could do damage to the resident fish that have to produce there own light. Damage they might harm 5 fish in 10 years.
Want to research something. Check out the number of shark attacks that have happened since the longlinning for them has been stopped. Those sharks have survived for billions of years and they would survive with the longlining.
Want to research something. Check out the number of shark attacks that have happened since the longlinning for them has been stopped. Those sharks have survived for billions of years and they would survive with the longlining.
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CuzzA
Wetwork for Hire
I'm no deep marine expert, but aren't "most" of the creatures down there blind anyways? Not to mention there's not a lot of life down there compared to a shallow reef and given that the exposure to a submersible is extremely miniscule I have to believe there is virtually zero impact.
As far as your dive light effecting shallow water creatures, not a chance. Contrary to earlier posts, most aquariums owners these days use high powered LED fixtures with sunrise and sunset simulation. Some even mimic real time weather and seasons including moon phases. Furthermore the marine science/industry/hobby has done extensive research on mimicking natural sun light, specifically using PUR and PAR meters while producing the correct spectrum. Even still artificial light is no match compared to the sun. I can tell you, IME, your 3-9 watt led or HID dive light is having zero effect on marine life especially considering the incredible success many aquarium hobbyists have using 300 watt LED aquarium lights or 400 watt metal halides sitting over their tanks a foot above the water. In fact the corals need that type of high powered light to grow.
As far as your dive light effecting shallow water creatures, not a chance. Contrary to earlier posts, most aquariums owners these days use high powered LED fixtures with sunrise and sunset simulation. Some even mimic real time weather and seasons including moon phases. Furthermore the marine science/industry/hobby has done extensive research on mimicking natural sun light, specifically using PUR and PAR meters while producing the correct spectrum. Even still artificial light is no match compared to the sun. I can tell you, IME, your 3-9 watt led or HID dive light is having zero effect on marine life especially considering the incredible success many aquarium hobbyists have using 300 watt LED aquarium lights or 400 watt metal halides sitting over their tanks a foot above the water. In fact the corals need that type of high powered light to grow.
phoenix31tt
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Perhaps the deep creatures would have something else affected by sub lights--something that enables them to kinda see in the pitch black? I dunno. I would think that the deep creatures may be adversely affected by decimated shallow fish populations due to over fishing, as I believe when the shallow fish die they sink and become food for the deep ones. That may be something to really worry about?
A number of deep sea creatures can generate some light. Some use it as a lure. So they may not have sharp vision but they can sense light.
Where the sunlight does not penetrate, the majority of light is created by bioluminescence, created by anything as small as plankton to as big as your large fishes.
Because of this light source, eyes are specially developed to detect and perceive this. The majority of known deep sea creatures have eyes. Some cave creatures that have lived for years in complete darkeness (that is no biolum., no sunlight, no light period) those creatures are totally blind because they're eyes are completely unused.
Deep Sea Creatures do use their eyes, so it has evolved to be highly sensitive.
(google is your friend, fellas. Just saying, it's right there in your pocket now)
Imagine an astronaut just peeking at the sun in space with no Sun Shield or their transparent UV visor. They'd get some pretty bad eye damage from the radiation and over exposure of light.
The hypothesis for this OP is the same. LED lights give off UV radiation, that combined with the ultra over powering lights source is for all intents and purposes damaging the eyes of deep sea creatures. Note I say hypothesis.
I can't actually find any scientific references to support this for every species. All non-cited references point to some unnamed deep sea invert professor cited on reddit, which leads me to believe it's a faked story but with actual scientific backing based off this:
https://www.sciencenews.org/sites/default/files/15514-11.pdf
Fake story, but true backing. There is one instance (and only one because there was one excursion to date) Where an ROV went to a hydrothermal vent and shined their light on the resident shrimp (an invertebrate).
Those shrimp then swam off their pattern and some boiled themselves instantly by swimming in the vents; conclusion was the light blinded them or at least disoriented them.
Because of this light source, eyes are specially developed to detect and perceive this. The majority of known deep sea creatures have eyes. Some cave creatures that have lived for years in complete darkeness (that is no biolum., no sunlight, no light period) those creatures are totally blind because they're eyes are completely unused.
Deep Sea Creatures do use their eyes, so it has evolved to be highly sensitive.
(google is your friend, fellas. Just saying, it's right there in your pocket now)
Imagine an astronaut just peeking at the sun in space with no Sun Shield or their transparent UV visor. They'd get some pretty bad eye damage from the radiation and over exposure of light.
The hypothesis for this OP is the same. LED lights give off UV radiation, that combined with the ultra over powering lights source is for all intents and purposes damaging the eyes of deep sea creatures. Note I say hypothesis.
I can't actually find any scientific references to support this for every species. All non-cited references point to some unnamed deep sea invert professor cited on reddit, which leads me to believe it's a faked story but with actual scientific backing based off this:
https://www.sciencenews.org/sites/default/files/15514-11.pdf
Fake story, but true backing. There is one instance (and only one because there was one excursion to date) Where an ROV went to a hydrothermal vent and shined their light on the resident shrimp (an invertebrate).
Those shrimp then swam off their pattern and some boiled themselves instantly by swimming in the vents; conclusion was the light blinded them or at least disoriented them.
CuzzA
Wetwork for Hire
Well, there's not a whole lot of studies since deep see exploration is rare and few and far between. Google scholar produces very little info, however this line from Wikipedia pretty much is what I expected and backs up my post, specifically the term I used, "most".
"Since many of these fish live in regions where there is no natural illumination, they cannot rely solely on their eyesight for locating prey and mates and avoiding predators; deep-sea fish have evolved appropriately to the extreme sub-photic region in which they live. Many of these organisms are blind and rely on their other senses, such as sensitivities to changes in local pressure and smell, to catch their food and avoid being caught."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_sea_fish#Characteristics
"Since many of these fish live in regions where there is no natural illumination, they cannot rely solely on their eyesight for locating prey and mates and avoiding predators; deep-sea fish have evolved appropriately to the extreme sub-photic region in which they live. Many of these organisms are blind and rely on their other senses, such as sensitivities to changes in local pressure and smell, to catch their food and avoid being caught."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_sea_fish#Characteristics
- ^ a b Trujillo, Alan P., and Harold V. Thurman (2011). Essentials of Oceanography 10th ed. Boston: Prentice Hall. p. 415. ISBN 978-0321668127.
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