#NASA: #Noctiluca in the #NorthSea? https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/151475/noctiluca-in-the-north-sea

"On June 14, #Landsat 9 acquired this natural-color image of a bloom N of the East Frisian Islands... Without a sample, it’s not possible to say for sure which type of #phytoplankton are present. However, the appearance of the blooms is similar to those created by #NoctilucaScintillans... Though N. scintillans blooms can glow at night in beautiful ways, their presence can also soak up oxygen and cause #hypoxia, dead zones."

Sunday #Plankton #Factoid

#Noctiluca scintillans has been in the news lately. Called sea-sparkle for its bioluminescence. It's a heterotrophic (no photosynthesis) athecate (no shell) #dinoflagellate that feeds by phagotrophy (engulfing). Quite large for a single-celled organism, up to 2 mm in diameter. Though not algae it can form colorful orange harmful blooms by releasing ammonium toxic to invertebrate and fish gills. #HABs
Also available as a giant microbe plush.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.king5.com/amp/article/tech/science/environment/water-orange-noctiluca-bloom-west-seattle/281-a137d138-cce3-4537-a8d5-8da0e1a04014

Studying impact of #bioluminescent 'blue tears' on #waterquality around Pingtan Island.

#Noctiluca #Vargula #plankton

https://phys.org/news/2023-05-impact-bioluminescent-blue-quality-pingtan.html