Sparkles

[Wim van Egmond]

Dear fellow Microbe gazers.

I hope you'll have nice holidays and best wishes for the new year!

Here are 2 images of Noctiluca, the sea sparkle. Although I had seen them under the microscope before it was last year that I saw the lighting of the sea for the first time. Normally I was back home before dark. :-)

Wim

[Mitch640]

Beautiful images Wim. Are these the microbes that make the phosphorescence?

I was once walking a beach on the Coast of California. At the surf line, where the sand was wet, you could stomp your foot down, and it would set off the phosphors that were down in the wet sand. You could see the shock wave go through the sand, in the form of a light wave, and it went several inches deep. As the shock wave travelled, it would show solid objects buried in the sand, such as sea shells and once an old style bottle top. I could even see the starred edges of the bottle top, it was that detailed. I've never forgotten that sight.

[Wim van Egmond]

Thank you Mitch, yes that could well be Noctiluca. Imagine how many there were in that sand!

They are weird dinoflagellates. In the bottom image you can see how they can capture large prey. They have a long tentacle and a hook.

Wim

[Mitch640]

I was just reading about them on a webpage I found through Google. Some species even produce a mucus that they trail off the flagella, then as they rise through the plankton, they catch the prey that get stuck in the mucus.

I am always amazed at the variety of ways single celled life has developed to kill each other.