The red light district is located not on a seedy side street in a major city, but, oceanographers have discovered, in the deep sea. Animals that live in the sea's abyss produce and perceive red light, contrary to what was the prevailing view among marine biologists: that most deep-sea animals can't detect red light at all. Research by Steven Haddock of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) and colleagues Bruce Robison and Kim Reisenbichler, as well as Edie Widder, formerly of Florida's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution and now of the Ocean Research and Conservation Association in Fort Pierce, Florida, shows that some deep-sea fishes not only see red light, but use it in locating prey.
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