concept

Aposematism

Honest advertisement: an organism with a defense (poison, spines, a foul taste) displays a conspicuous signal - bold stripes, vivid color, or light - to warn predators off in advance. Predators learn to associate the signal with the unpleasant consequence and avoid it. Usually it is daytime color (a wasp), but it can be nighttime light: the blind, cyanide-laced millipede *Motyxia* glows green as a warning - and experiments show glowing models are bitten far less than dark ones.