Glowing Blue Waves Lighting Up SoCal Coastline Roll Into the South Bay

Crashing waves emitting a flash of neon blue have lit up darkened stretches of Southern California’s coastline this month, most recently making an appearance in the South Bay. From a report: The sporadic phenomenon — sometimes called sea sparkle — is something scientists have been studying for 120 years. It’s associated with a red tide, or an algae bloom, made up of organisms called dinoflagellates. These tiny single-celled organisms are common members of the coastal plankton community that float on or near the ocean’s surface and can emit bioluminescence, most commonly when they’re grabbed by a predator. The light acts to startle their attacker, according to Michael Latz, a marine biologist with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. Occasionally, the organisms are found in high concentrations, resulting in red tides and known for giving the ocean water a deep red, brown or orange hue during the day. At night, they can put on a truly spectacular show when jostled by a crashing wave or the wake of a boat. Red tides are difficult to predict, and not all of them produce bioluminescence. Scientists still aren’t sure about all the factors that lead to them, Latz said.