The Deep-Sea Podcast15 Nov 2025

PRESSURISED: 063 – Bioluminescent Symbiosis with Margaret McFall-Ngai

Welcome to the PRESSURISED version of episode 63, just the science, none of the waffle

PRESSURISED: Bioluminescent Symbiosis with Margaret McFall-Ngai | The Deep-Sea Podcast | Episode 63

Our guest this month is Dr. Margaret McFall-Ngai, an animal physiologist and biochemist who is a staff researcher at Carnegie Institution for Science’s Division of Biosphere Sciences and Engineering, with her lab stationed at the California Institute of Technology in Biology and Biological Engineering. Dr. McFal-Ngai talks us through her work on the stable beneficial relationship between the Hawaiian bobtail squid (Euprymna scolopes) and its partner, the luminous bacterium Vibrio fischeri. Although technically not a deep-sea species, this relationship and its details might help us understand how deep-sea life creates bioluminescence and the possible life cycle impacts for the creatures involved.

Glossary

Crypt - The chambers within the squid's light organ.

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Reference list Interview Links

A lasting symbiosis: how the Hawaiian bobtail squid finds and

keeps its bioluminescent bacterial partner

A lasting symbiosis: how Vibrio fischeri finds a squid partner

and persists within its natural host

Credits

Logo image: Dr. Margaret McFall-Ngai

Theme: Hadal Zone Express by Märvel

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