GloFish Genetically modified variety of fish that glows. Normal zebra fishes have silver or black stripes. However, the 2.5 cm long GloFish is bright red, green, orange or yellow. Genes from jellyfish and anemone are inserted into zebra fish embryos. The GloFishes that develop from this procedure have the ability to absorb and re- emit light. When lit by ultraviolet or infrared light (which is invisible to the human eye), the fishes re- emit a visible glow.

GloFishes were developed by Associate Professor Gong Zhiyuan of the Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore (NUS). The fishes were genetically engineered to detect water pollution, in research that sought to make them glow in specific colours depending on the pollutant present. Fishes that do not glow indicate clean water. The production of fishes that glow all the time is an intermediate step to achieving this goal. NUS has a patent on the GloFish.

Photo credit: Gong Zhiyuan