Delphinus

LUCIFEROUS (Multi Subspecies)
Luciferous dragons are a sight to behold, especially at night. They are a surprisingly stable group, having spent many generations with their affliction, so many in fact it is now more of a symbiotic relationship rather than a parasitic one. The original bacterial infection was a parasite from the depths of the ocean, a bacteria with the ability to produce a glow. During the day their gems simply look shiny, but at night they are bright enough to see by for short distances. This makes the dragons very liable to predation and detection by roaming Beastclans, so often they will wrap themselves in fabrics at night to reduce the effect. Some, however, use the glow to their advantage, sneaking around large prey and suddenly blinding it, or better yet using their dark coloring to blend into the night, while their gems lure in prey like a will-o'-the-wisp.

In the early stages of the bacterial symbiosis, dragons were very weak from the bacteria using all their excess ATP to produce glow, and had to wet their skin constantly to stop it from drying out. If a dragon dried out, the gems would contract and become very painful. A dragon who was afflicted early could, in theory, wait out the drying and the bacterial gems would dry fully and fall off, curing them. However, this was an extremely painful process taking weeks to months and most dragons found it better to just live with it. Freezing, burning, and bathing in the Wyrmwound were attempted (and failed) methods of removal. Other side-effects of the parasite were lack of energy, weight loss, and light sensitivity.
Now dragons are born with the bacteria, which has evolved to use less energy and retain water. These dragons cannot remove their gems unless by force, and the dragon would likely die before removing the bacteria completely. That is not to say that new lines of dragons can’t contract the bacteria if they swim too deep of the coast of the Wasteland where it meets the Thousand-Currents Sea...

This subspecies is most successful in water, ice, nature, and shadow. They were originally, when the bacteria first took hold in some dragons who swam just a little too deep, only very dark colors, those suited to deep water, and blue shaded gems. Over time and as the dragons reproduced/the bacteria evolved, they were able to dull their colors into greys and dark greens with greenish gems, to blend better on land. There is speculation about the further evolution of the relationship. Many dragons believe that over time more gem colors may appear, moving towards the lower color wavelengths, and that dragons may even be able to control the glow. Due to breeding, most luciferous dragons are pearlcatchers, guardians, or wildclaws. A luciferous dragon is a proud one, as they often believe their glow is a gift from the Tidelord.