Stamped: March 26th, 2007 | Related Posts
Tagged: bioluminescence.

Mother Earth is amazing and full of surprises. Have you ever seen a glowing wave? (without inhaling or absorbing any illegal substance)

Maybe people living all the year nearby the ocean might have the chance to be happy witnesses of this beautiful phenomenon that is bioluminescence.

Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism as the result of a chemical reaction during which chemical energy is converted to light energy.

Here, the water is full of blooming algae, specifically microscopic algae of Phylum Dinophytadinoflagellates commonly known as dinoflagellates. Bluish flickers visible in ocean water at night often come from blooms of bioluminescent dinoflagellates, which emit short flashes of light when disturbed.
Dinoflagellates sometimes bloom in concentrations of more than a million cells per millilitre.
The same Red Tide you see above is more specifically produced when dinoflagellates are able to reproduce rapidly and copiously on account of the abundant nutrients in the water.
Although the resulting red waves are a miraculous sight, they contain toxins tha kill fish and accumulate in filter feeders such as shellfish, which in turn may pass them on to people who eat them.