See text Aphrodita is a genus of marine polychaete worms found in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

The name of the genus is taken from Aphrodite, the Ancient Greek goddess of love, said to be because of a resemblance to human female genitalia.

Aphrodita are hermaphroditic, having functional reproductive organs of both sexes, with the eggs of one individual being fertilised by the sperm of another.

But when light shines on them perpendicularly, they flush green and blue – a "remarkable example of photonic engineering by a living organism".

The effect is produced by many hexagonal cylinders within the spines, which are said to perform much more efficiently than man-made optical fibres.