Shining Our Way Through Life

Humans have been creating fire for nearly half a million years. This illuminating discovery provided early people with a sense of security, helping them ward off the dangers of the night. However, for a small and seemingly harmless creature that inhabits shallow waters off the coast of Hawaii, light serves a different purpose: an invisibility cloak that allows it to move freely through the inky night sea, undetected by its prey. With assistance from the moon and bioluminescent bacteria (Vibrio fischeri) found in its habitat, the Hawaiian bobtail squid has mastered the art of disguise.

By day, the roughly golf ball-sized cephalopod burrows in the sandy seabed, excreting mucus to recruit bacteria from the waters and drawing them deep within its internal light organ through a series of pores and cilia-lined tunnels. Once gathered, the squid begins a coordinated, daily ritual of feeding the bacteria (it eats sugar and amino acids), glowing, and then purging its collected bacteria.

Each morning, the squid flushes out most of the existing bacteria—an estimated 95%—in an effort to keep the remaining population healthy and fresh for the subsequent night’s journey. But why exactly does this squid exert so much energy absorbing, excreting, and reabsorbing bacteria?

Come moonrise, the nocturnal squid begins its hunt for sustenance, including the bright red shrimp it savors. In order to sneak up on the tiny crustaceans, the squid first floats to the surface of the ocean, where it gauges the intensity of the moonlight and uses its light organ’s shutter system to match it. This process, known as counter-illumination, erases the squid’s shadow, making it invisible to prey (and predators) looking up at it from below. More remarkably, this ‘dimmer switch’ of sorts can be adjusted in real-time, automatically becoming dimmer or brighter as clouds pass over the moon. This invisibility mechanism is unique to the Sepiolinae subfamily of bobtail squid.

This incredible symbiotic relationship between the squid and bacteria has captured the attention of material scientists in the U.S. Air Force. They have studied its reflective qualities, as well as the squid’s ability to ‘glue’ sand to its body, in hopes of utilizing biomimicry-led design to improve aircraft camouflage.

While the lifespan of a Hawaiian bobtail squid may be short (about 3 to 10 months), it provides us with an uplifting reminder of our own ability to shine through life’s challenges, weaving our unique light into the world around us. We’ve captured this motivational scene within our latest creation: the Moon Over Sea Australian Opal Necklace.

At the center of the ethereal Australian Boulder Opal floats a queue of frothing white caps that traverse its façade—a delineation between the velvety dark sky and the hidden depths below. A subtle green flash mirrors the lunar reflection atop midnight waves. And suspended above the rich blue opal is a hand-textured gold moon, cratered like the lunar surface and set with a single diamond reflecting the light of a night star.

A client recently purchased this piece and shared that it "has several aspects that will carry a lot of personal meaning for the recipient,"... feedback that has left us feeling over the moon. 🙏