Fluorescent blue patches of water glimmering off Hong Kong's seashore are magnificent, disturbing and potentially toxic, marine biologists say.
The glow is an indicator of a harmful algal bloom created by something called Noctiluca scintillans, nicknamed Sea Sparkle. It is a single-celled organism that technically can function as both animal and plant.
Studies show it is much more complicated and links them to blooms that have been harmful to marine life. Noctiluca's role as both prey and predator can eventually magnify the accumulation of algae toxins in the food chain, according to oceanographer R. Eugene Turner at Louisiana State University.
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John
You can see this in the gulf of mexico some nights, depending on the moon, and when the waves break just right. People pushed it off to the mass of ignorant as plankton. Prove it! I don't swim in the Gulf of Mexico.
Emma Moore
We won't go swimming Sharron!!!! It's really hazy here a combination of pollution and low cloud. Can't really see across the bay.
Norcalguy111
Similar algae blooms occur on a recurring basis in the Gulf of Mexico from nutrients draining from the Mississippi River and along the Oregon coast from nutrients draining from the Columbia River.
