This weekend blue our minds! Bioluminescent waves filled with light-producing plankton ignited the surfline through the night all around the Monterey Bay!
The light is produced by a type of plant-plankton known as dinoflagellates (the specific species involved in this bloom are being identified.)
Bioluminescence is relatively rare on landāfireflies or glow-in-the-dark mushrooms are some common examplesābut itās a staple in the ocean. Our colleagues at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute found that over 75% of species theyāve found in the deep sea in our backyard bioluminesce.
Bioluminescence has many purposes: Anglerfish use it to attract food in their lure, strawberry squid use it to disguise themselvesāand many organisms, from worms and shrimp to jellies and dinoflagellates, use it as a defense mechanism!
When a dinoflagellate is shaken up, a light-emitting chemical reaction inside the plankter produces a blue flash that startles a would-be predator, limiting their effectivenessāimagine a strobe light going off with every bite of a sandwich!
On their own, each dinoflagellate is just one sparkle in the night. But when there is a big bloom of themāsometimes called āred tidesā, though theyāre not always red and have little to do with the tidesātheir collective trillions agitated in the waves produce the aquatic fireworks weāve been experiencing recently.
When theyāre this abundant, the dinoflagellates are able to create somewhat of a burglar alarm with their individual defensive spark. Animals swimming through the soup leave a trail of light breadcrumbs for larger predators to track through living night-vision seas.
Besides their beauty, some dinoflagellate blooms can be noxious to marine life and to people. Lingulodinium polyedra is able to produce toxins that accumulate in shellfish and affect their predators, and other dinoflagellates can produce soap-like substances that can harm seabirds and irritate humans that come in contact with them.
Weāre not sure how long the waves will be luminescentāwind and waves and currents could soon dissipate the bloom, returning the beaches to their regular slumber. If youāre looking to see the luminescence, be advised! Weāre still in a global pandemic: Respect beach closures, keep your distance from other groups and wear your mask.
The luminescent waves wonāt look as blue as you see in the photos and in videosāas your eyes adjust to the dark, youāll lose your color vision, so the waves will mostly look bright white. The darker the coast, the more pronounced the luminescence. For camera settings, keep it steady on a tripod, and take a longer exposure: 3 to 30 seconds, and youāll see the blue!
Thanks everyone for reading this farāand thanks most of all to the dinoflagellates for putting on such a show! You blue us away!
