See of stars

Photo by Mohamed Ahsan

Photo by Mohamed Ahsan

While vacationing on the Maldives Islands, Taiwanese photographer Will Ho stumbled onto an incredible stretch of beach covered in millions of bioluminescent phytoplankton. These tiny organisms glow similarly to fireflies and tend to emit light when stressed, such as when waves crash or when they are otherwise agitated. While the phenomenon and its chemical mechanisms have been known for some time, biologists have only recently began to understand the reasons behind it. More

Bioluminescence in the reefs of the Maldives causes the sea to glow like a starry night sky.

Sea of Stars caused by microscopic organisms called bioluminescent phytoplankton - Vaadhoo Island in the Maldives.

Sea Stars in the sand. Monterey Bay California U.S.A. Hopkins Point. Dive time 30 min max depth 60 Ft. Visibility ~ 20 ft. Nikonos V, U.W. Nikkor 20mm F 2.8 Fujichrome Velvia 50.

Singly, each individual emits a tiny speck of light, but en masse, they can light up a beach with an eerie other-worldly glow…

Photographed off the coast of Okayama, Japan, The Weeping Stones is a photo series by the creative duo Trevor Williams and Jonathan Galione of Tdub Photo that captures the eerie blue light emitted by a native species of bioluminescent shrimp. More commonly referred to as sea fireflies, these rare creatures live in the sand in shallow sea water, floating somewhere between the extremes of high and low tide. At just 3 mm in length the shrimp are extremely small light sources, but when grouped…