It is the only member of genus Vargula to inhabit Japanese waters; all other members of its genus inhabit the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and waters off the coast of California.

It produces a blue-coloured light by a specialized chemical reaction of the substrate luciferin and the enzyme luciferase.

A suggested biosynthesis for vargulin divides the molecule into a tryptophan, an arginine and an isoleucine subunit.

[2][3] The maximum in the wavelength of the luminescence is dependent on pH and salinity of the water in which the reaction takes place.

DNA and RNA analysis indicated that V. hilgendorfii migrated slowly northward after the last ice age.