‘Blue tide’ spotted along Juhu, Devgad, Ratnagiri beaches
- Posted By
10Pointer
- Categories
Environment
- Published
26th Nov, 2020
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What is the blue tide?
- This phenomenon occurs when luminescent marine life makes the sea appear a deep shade of blue.
- It occurs when phytoplankton, commonly known as dinoflagellates, produce light through chemical reactions in proteins.
- Waves disturb these unicellular microorganisms and make them release blue light.
- The spectacle has been witnessed from November to January and, in some instances, even in March.
Where it has been observed?
- The sight has been observed at Mumbai and Dakshina Kannada-Udupi coast.
- It has also been seen across Maldives, Vietnam, Indonesia, the USA, and Australia.
What could be the reasons behind this phenomenon?
- Eutrophication: Eutrophication – the reduction of oxygen in the water, which makes the phytoplanktons pretty dominant.
- Light pollution: One reason is light pollution on beaches.
- The light is produced when the organisms are churned or mechanically stimulated.
- The light spreads further when waves surf up along the rocks.
Dinoflagellates
- Dinoflagellates are unicellular.
- They possess two dissimilar flagella arising from the ventral cell side.
- These are microorganisms that are related to amoeba and paramecium.
- They have enzymes in their body with which break down certain organic substrates and this gets emitted into the light.
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