The beach glows

Every time the waves come, an empty beach on Maldives is lit up by the presence of countless glowing plankton.

On a moonless night, if you walk to the beach on Vaadhoo Island in the Maldives, the glowing tiny creatures will cling to your feet. In addition, you can see light coming from the sea.

The concentration of phytoplankton glowing with large density makes
The beach on Vaadhoo island becomes sparkling in the moonless night.

Many people will think the scene only appears in sci-fi films or cartoons, but in fact it often happens on Vaadhoo Island, Newscientist said. Seawater glows by the presence of plankton capable of luminescent with very high density in the water. They may be unicellular or crustacean animals.

Luminescent ability helps animals escape the attention of predators. When the light from the prey is seen, the "hunters" must also be on guard, as their enemies will most likely arrive at the light. So light helps small animals chase predators.

Light from animals is created by luciferin, a type of pigment, and an enzyme called luciferase. Luciferin reacts with oxygen, while luciferase helps this reaction happen faster. A wide range of animals - such as fire butterflies, pompano and jellyfish - use luciferin and luciferase to produce light.