Vaadhoo Island “‘Sea of Stars” Maldives’s Bioluminescent Paradise

This glow in the dark is due to a type of phytoplankton called dinoflagellate, basically an alga, that under mechanical disturbance produces light by way of a chemical reaction. This phenomenon is called ‘bioluminescence’, and produces ‘cold light’ (only 20% of it produces heat), in the blue-green part of the visible light spectrum and thus perfectly visible at night. A simple wave is enough to stimulate this chemical reaction, which emit a brief (0.1 seconds) flash of sparkling blue light that washes up onshore as the photo below shows. It might as well serve as a defense mechanism, as the emitted light could attract bigger, carnivorous predators. The dinoflagellates thrive in warm water, but a huge concentration, a bloom, is necessary to result in a ‘Sea of Stars’ event and science cannot yet predict them. Well worth a wait, don’t you think?