Sunday 5 July 2015

Glowworms Transform Cave into a Fascinating Starry Sky



By venturing into the 30-million-year-old limestone caves in New Zealand's North Island, the skilled photographer Joseph Michael was able to save enchanting photographs of the glowworms that call this place home. Because against the natural backdrop that the cave offers, it looks as though there is hundreds of miniature, blue-tinted stars, but this is in fact the work of glowworms recognized as Arachnocampa luminosa. Therefore, using a long-exposure method, the photographer was able to catch the glowworm larvae and their enchanting light in a way that makes the limestone formation look as though it's an indoor, starry sky.

Hence, if you look the close-up photographs, you may feel that something is hanging from the bioluminescent gnat larvae. These are the twinkling larvae's nests, which are composed of up to 70 silk threads that contain droplets of mucus. In order to entice prey into these threads, the larvae glow bright, but not all continue to do so once they become adults. Male glowworms will stop glowing a few days after emerging from the nest, while the females' glow will rise in order to appeal a mate. With this there should be in mind, it seems that the photographer caught the glowworms at the impeccable time for his Luminosity series.








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