An otherworldly sight. A frog with glowing blue eyes was caught riding a ghost (photo)

The world is home to an incredible number of species, and some of them are absolutely magical. For example, a glowing frog sitting on a rare glowing ghost mushroom. The rare photo was taken by photographer Toby Schrapel and won the People’s Choice category in the 2024 Beaker Street Science Photography Contest.

Here, blue light reflects off the eyes and skin of a biofluorescent brown tree frog (Litoria ewingii) perched on a rare funnel-shaped ghost mushroom (Omphalotus nidiformis), so named for its eerie bioluminescent glow at night.

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According to Toby Schrapel, after six weeks of searching for a rare mushroom species, he managed to capture this magical duo in a pine plantation in Tasmania. The author of the photo claims that he saw a mushroom and a frog together and immediately thought that this was his chance to do “something magical.”

Note that the ghost mushroom is a rare lamellar mushroom that grows in Australia and Tasmania. The underside of the cap has thin structures called gills that are responsible for the spread of spores.

During the day, the funnel mushroom’s body is white or pale brown, but at night the mushroom’s gills glow with an otherworldly green light through a process known as bioluminescence, a light-producing chemical reaction between enzymes and oxygen, similar to the way fireflies’ abdomens glow.

Schrapel says he spent several weeks searching for the elusive ghost mushroom before getting a tip from a friend about a pine plantation in the Seven Mile Beach coastal reserve. He headed there, and his search was eventually successful. What’s more, the photographer spotted an equally incredible tiny tree frog sitting on top of the mushroom.

In that unexpected moment, Schrapel realized that exposing the amphibian’s skin to ultraviolet (UV) light would produce a bright blue glow, providing a rare opportunity to capture the bioluminescence of a mushroom and the biofluorescence of a frog in the same frame.

The researchers say biofluorescence occurs when a living organism has a chemical surface that absorbs light at one wavelength and re-emit it at another. Biofluorescence and bioluminescence are found throughout the animal kingdom, and in this case, tree frogs may use it as a form of communication. Bioluminescence in fungi is also less well-studied, scientists say, but one theory is that the soft glow likely attracts insects that spread the fungal spores.

Toby Schrapel later submitted his photo to a contest, and it won the People’s Choice Award in the annual Beaker Street Science Photo Contest.

Previously Focus He wrote about how a giant tadpole “shrunk” into a tiny frog.