bioluminescence in waves and sand

Description and Comments

This was at Rosemary Beach in Northwest Florida along the Gulf of Mexico around 9:30pm. There was no moon and it appeared that the white caps of the waves coming in were glowing. I thought it was starlight but then noticed that the sand sparkled with each step! I live near the beach and have never seen anything like it... each step produced a display of bioluminescent filaments sometimes several feet long. It seemed that movement or pressure created the effect.

Author

stjds1

Type of organism

Red Tide
bioluminescent algae?

Quantity

100

Latitude

30.28

Longitude

-86.02

Comments

jellywatch Tue, 03/09/2010 - 13:05

That is really great. You're right about the pressure causing the effect. When I've seen this in the past, there is a dry ring of sand that radiates out from your steps, and that disturbance is enough to stimulate the dinoflagellates which have been washed up onto the beach.