Bioluminescence or blue waves is a phenomenon that's more characteristic of Lakshadweep. But for the first time, bioluminescent waves were spotted at Mumbai's Juhu beach, leaving the city dwellers stunned beyond belief.

Nilesh Mane

Because when Sayli Bhalekar phoned her friends Abir Jain and Nilesh Mane and reported the exceptional sighting, they couldn't believe their ears. They thought she was pranking them good.

It was only when she messaged a video to them that they realised that it was happening for real!

"But when she, Sayli Bhalekar, who stays in Juhu Koliwada, sent a small video to us, we realised that she means business and reached the beach around 8 pm. We were left mesmerised," said the duo as reported by DNA.

"Wherever we placed our feet, the surrounding area started glowing. It was like watching an animation film. We asked a few people on the beach to confirm whether it was real. We had never witnessed something as spectacular as this before," exclaimed Mane, a resident of Andheri.

National Geographic

Local residents said that they had been witnessing the blue waves since last Thursday.

Mane said that it was difficult to capture the phenomenon on camera. Because of the road lights, spotting the blue became quite a task. It was only when they moved to the Danda side that they could finally take photos of the bioluminescence.

"I waded chest-deep in water and after making several changes to the settings on my DSLR camera, we were able to click the images," added Mane, citing that the El Nino effect could be one reason behind it.

Bioluminescence usually occurs when a living organism emits light such as phytoplanktons. These tiny organisms - around 0.5 mm in size - activate a protein known as luciferase when triggered by tidal waves, leading to a chain of chemical reactions that emit the blue glow.

DGR

"They have a tail-like structure called flagella that produces light when disturbed, stressed or in high-pollution levels and will give a light flash lasting a fraction of a second. We identified the likely species to be noctiluca scintillans," said Abir Jain.

Abir and Nilesh, who are both zoology students, have already taken samples from the waves and plan to publish a scientific paper on blue waves.