Glowing waters
This image was taken from a pier near San Diego, California, during a “red tide” event in 2011.
“Red Tides” are produced when there is a bloom of a specific type of organism known as a dinoflagellate. Those types of blooms often trigger “no swimming” alerts as one byproduct of these organisms is toxic to a wide variety of life.
Another byproduct of those blooms can be light. Several species of dinoflagellates are bioluminescent; they can produce this pale blue-green light.
The organisms typically give off that light when disturbed by flowing water, so some triggers for the glow can be waves cresting. That doesn’t appear to be the case in this shot though; these organisms are glowing at certain locations. According to the photographer that took the shot, they are being disturbed here by things swimming by; a school of fish and a couple of dolphins.
-JBB
Image credit: Ricky Qi (creative commons licensed)
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