Bioluminescent bacteria, the most abundant light-emitting organisms in the ocean, can be free-living, be symbiotic or colonize organic particles. This review suggests that they act as a visual target and may indirectly influence the sequestration of biogenic carbon in oceans by increasing the attraction rate for consumers. We summarize the instrumentation available to quantify this impact in future studies and propose synthetic figures integrating these ecological and biogeochemical concepts.