James Case - UCSB James F. Case Research Professor Marine Science Inst. During most of my academic career I have been interested in invertebrate neurobiology and behavior even though my thesis was on vertebrate neuroendocrine embryology. In military service I began working on neural respiratory control in insects, and afterwards I did a postdoctoral in the Nerve Muscle Program at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, which shifted my interest fully into marine invertebrates and also saw the beginning of a collaboration with John Buck on firefly neurobiology and behavior that still continues. Subsequently I did, with Frank Gwilliam, neurophysiology and ultrastructure work on chemoreception in crabs, defining their amino acid taste receptors, and did behavioral and field work in the same area. Ultimately I came to focus on bioluminescence in marine organisms and in fireflies.
Bioluminescence is a fascinating subject with many questions still remaining.
The chemistry of luminescence is well understood because of the great effort that has been applied to practical uses of luminescence in cellular biology and as a tracer in molecular investigations. Yet the neural and cellular controls that regulate light emission are known in only the most sketchy fashion, especially when compared with better known effector systems such as muscle. Behaviorally, luminescence in fireflies functions in mating, with each species tending to have a distinct communication flash code. In the sea, which is truly the home of bioluminescence, the role of bioluminescence in the lives of the myriad of luminescent species, from dinoflagellates to fish, is only beginning to be understood in a few specific instances. One of the clearest of these is the phenomenon of counterillumination which has been studied in my laboratory in the crustacean Sergestes and more recently in the midshipman fish, Porichthys .