sea sparkle

English

sea sparkle (Noctiluca spp.)

Etymology

sea +‎ sparkle from the sparkling of the sea due to the bioluminescent algae

Noun

sea sparkle (plural sea sparkles)

1. The bioluminescent dinoflagellate Noctiluca scintillans (syn. Noctiluca miliaris), that causes mareel.
   • 2006, Michael Bright, Wild Caribbean, page 190:

     The nocturnal fish are agile and quick to take flight, wary of reef sharks and moray eels scouring the coral heads, but as they swim and disturb the water, the darkness is sometimes interrupted by the bioluminescent flashes of 'sea sparkle', product of the microscopic dinoflagellate Noctiluca scintillans .

   • 2017, A. K. Vinogradov, Yu. I. Bogatova, I. A. Synegub, Ecology of Marine Ports of the Black and Azov Sea Basin, page 157:

     Their quantity remained also high in summer, when the role of the sea sparkle N. scintillans and of meroplankton, especially B. improvisus, was increasing.

   • 2019, David Farrell Krell, The Sea: A Philosophical Encounter, page 173:

     Thus what sailors call the "blossoming" of the night sea, that is, the appearance of swarms of phosphorescent phytoplankton on the surface, popularly known as “Sea Sparkle” (Noctiluca scintillans), is actually a sign that the sea has become “impure, turbid, slimy” (ibid.).

   • 2019, Thomas M. Schmidt, Encyclopedia of Microbiology, page 526:

     Bioluminescence from microscopic organisms creates sea-sparkle, a globally occurring, nocturnal phenomenon of blue sparkling light in breaking waves or around moving objects.

See also

• mareel
• milky sea
• blue tide

References

• Milky seas effect on Wikipedia.Wikipedia