Science can be cool: Beautiful firefly squid on the beach

I think this is such a beautiful picture. It almost looks like fairy lights but even better.
 
This is a picture of the Sparkling Enope squid (also known as the flirefly squid or in Japanese: Watasenia scintillans) at Toyama Bay, Japan. 

They are about 6 inches long and die after only a year of life. Found in the Western Pacific ocean, it lives at depths of 183-366 meters and only comes up to the surface at night to show off its brilliant bioluminescence. Its photophores, the organs that produce the light, are located at the end of each tentacle. Interesting fact about the Sparkling Enope squid is they are only species of cephalopod that has evolved to be able to see color in three visual pigments. Scientists think that this is to help them distinguish between ambient light and their own bioluminescence. The firefly squid lights up for two reasons: the lights on the tentacle can flash to attract fish that the squid feed on and the squid can light up its entire body to attract a mate during the months of March to June.

For more information check out: http://www.seasky.org/deep-sea/firefly-squid.html
Image credit: http://findlaydonnan.wordpress.com/2012/04/08/glowing-firefly-squid-beached-along-the-japanese-coast/