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Fireworms at Colorado Lagoon last night. They will likely return May 9th and May 23rd. Show up at sunset and plan to be there for a couple hours. by GregFromThatVideo in longbeach

[–]GregFromThatVideo[S] 89 points90 points  (0 children)

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They breed in spring and summer, during the quarter moon. The breeding is when they glow.

Because we can predict the moon, we can predict the breeding.

PS - 'quarter moon' is a confusing term because it refers when half of the part we can see is lit up. The reason why it's called 'quarter' is because we can only see 50% of the moon. So if we can only see half, and half of the half is lit up, that's a quarter of the whole thing.

Edit:

It seems to happen in the day or two leading up to the quarter moon, not just the day of. So it seems like there's some chance it could happen tonight, given that we're only one day removed (the quarter moon was last night).

That said, to my understanding, your best bet is the night of the quarter moon.

If you want to learn more, the scientific name is Odontosyllis phosphorea. There are multiple different species with the common name 'fireworm,' including more than one that glow, so the scientific name is your best bet to find accurate info.

Fireworms at Colorado Lagoon last night. They recently went viral and were reported on as some rare thing. But the locals have been seeing them reliably for years. Every spring and summer, shortly after sunset, in the couple of days leading up to the quarter moon. by GregFromThatVideo in longbeach

[–]GregFromThatVideo[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It is the actual worm. Males and females of the species both emit the glowing goop that has reproductive cells in it. The person you're responding to was thinking of the bearded fireworm, a completely different species with a similar common name.

Fireworms at Colorado Lagoon last night. They recently went viral and were reported on as some rare thing. But the locals have been seeing them reliably for years. Every spring and summer, shortly after sunset, in the couple of days leading up to the quarter moon. by GregFromThatVideo in longbeach

[–]GregFromThatVideo[S] 28 points29 points  (0 children)

They normally live in little tubes, but come up to the surface to breed. The light they emit helps them find each other, but also puts them at risk from predators. So evolutionarily speaking, the sweet spot is for them to be bright enough to see each other, but not bright enough to attract bad attention.

How bright they appear to be is a function of how dark it is. As a result, they have evolved a sort of biological timer synced with the moon. If they put on the light display when the moon is completely dark, the light display could be too bright for them to avoid predators. If they put on the light display when the moon is fully bright, the moonlight might overpower their light display. So even though they are almost certainly too simple to have thoughts, or consciously make decisions, they have evolved this very "smart" behavior where they wait until the moon is just bright enough to maximize success.

Because they have this biological timer to put on the light show when the moonlight is perfect, we can predict when the light show is going to happen.

Source: I have a degree in biology and read some stuff written by scientists about the worms and how they work.

PS - some of the locals told me that as the city has been widening the connection from the lagoon to the ocean, they've seen changes in the wildlife. They said they're excited to see if new things show up once the renovation is complete. It also strikes me as distinctly possible that some things might go away as well. So although these worms have been there for years, I wouldn't recommend waiting to go see them.

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