Have you ever heard about the natural ocean wonder of bioluminescence? It’s when the sea glows either a neon blue or green, or even red in some rare cases. The ocean can sparkle and glitter like the stars in the sky because of a chemical reaction known as bioluminescence, which allows some living things to emit light from their body. Bioluminescence is considered cold light, meaning that less than 20% of the light generates thermal radiation or any other form of heat. This fact is mainly responsible for the bluish and whitish color. Sea creatures like some algae, crustaceans, fish, and squid species perform bioluminescence in order to fool their predators, attract their prey, or even lure possible mates. However, as a side note, many of us have seen various bioluminescent organisms on land such as fireflies and fungi.
As you might already predict, this phenomenon usually occurs in the night time when there is little light, as it’s easier to see the colors. Typically, we can witness this phenomenon when there is lots of bioluminescence in the water, most commonly from an algae bloom of plankton. The water will glow when it’s disturbed by a wave breaking or a splash in the water at night. Algae bloom sea sparkle events are caused by a combination of calm and warm sea conditions. But you can see specks of bioluminescence when it’s created nearby by a light-producing marine creature.
In some cases, it is safe to swim in bioluminescent waters. However, in other cases, swimming in bioluminescent water may prove to be dangerous, for some bioluminescent species release toxins into water that can potentially poison fish, humans, and other creatures that come into contact with it. So all in all, it’s mainly best to avoid swimming in bioluminescent waters, just to be safe. In fact, at the most famous bioluminescence location in the world, the Mosquito Bay in Puerto Rico, swimming with the organisms is no longer permitted.
Believe it or not, human skin is considered to be bioluminescent. According to a recent study done by Japanese researchers, human bioluminescence is possible and exists in visible light, but, sadly, our eyes are inherently unable to see this wavelength of light — for nerds, roughly a thousand times lower than what we can see with just our naked eyes. Using hyper-sensitive cameras, the team monitored volunteers for twenty minutes every three hours in a dark, tightly-shut room for days. The experts came to the conclusion that the human body actually glows like other bioluminescent organisms, with the brightest parts being the cheeks, forehead, and neck. This process in our bodies does not work in the same way for other bioluminescent organisms, for it is really more of our own form of glowing bioluminescence.
Sparkling night lights have been photographed across Australia, Maldives, Puerto Rico, the Everglades, and many more sea-bordering sites across the world, attracting tourists from around the world to be awe-stricken — in fact, the above image was taken from Henley Beach in South Australia.
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Great post Anubhav! I found this very interesting and was so surprised to read that humans are also bioluminescent, how fascinating! I also never knew that being in bioluminescent waters was dangerous, however I am not at all surprised. One thing I want to comment on is your formatting. You do a great job of breaking up your ideas with paragraphs, but still let it flow very nicely. Keep up the great research and writing techniques, you’re doing great. So excited to see which topic you cover next!