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luminescent dinoflagellates/ bioluminescense

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  • 27-06-2011 3:54am
    #1
    andyseadog
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,412 ✭✭✭


    hi boardsies, im new to this forum and i hope im posting in the right area, if not can mods move this to its correct home please.

    the story, as simple as i can make it is me and a 2 friends were on our local pier tonight during a late night stroll, one of our friends had had a recent break up and it was just a head clearing kind of walk though i must admit i was stone cold sober, no drink/ drugs etc involved.

    so we were sitting there for quite some time and all was fine then when we glanced at the sea again, any areas that were usually white like the small 'horses' of breaking waves, the slight pollution scum line (that has been commonplace for years) from the river, where the waves were breaking onto the shore and any other usual white frothy areas of the sea were glowing a vivid bright green. it was the most peculiar un-nerving thing we had ever seen!

    we traveled approx half a mile down the coastline and it was the same down there too, so i was really unnerved at this stage so we headed for home.

    this was between 2-3am this morning on the wicklow coast at arklow, the moon was low enough in the sky glowing a nice orange colour at first at 2am and rising in the sky and getting more yellow/ white as time went on and there was cloud covering in places but no rain and little to no wind.

    i stumbled upon this thread via google http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/23257-glowing-seafoam/ and particularly this picture http://www.flickr.com/photos/beluga/118530116/ is almost identical to what we seen. what have we just seen? i must admit im a little concerned... is it a health risk or have we just witnessed a rare and peculiar phenomenon and it should be a cherished memory?

    please help.


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    #2
    slowburner
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,220 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    My guess is, cherish the memory of a natural phenomenon.
    There was once a massive oyster fishery in the area - while the fishery is long gone, the shells are still abundant - maybe the shells contribute something to the bioluminescence?
    The Avoca river discharges its heavily polluted mine waters into that area and the sewage from Arklow is a disgrace. Hopefully these are not the cause :o


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