BIG PICTUR E BIOLUMINESCENT BLOOM BY JOANNE PAQUETTE
Noctiluca scintillans or ‘sea sparkle’ is a bioluminescent dinoflagellate – a kind of planktonic organism – that, on rare occasions, blooms in great
numbers and washes onto beaches, as seen here at Jervis Bay, NSW. “As the waves rolled in so did the microscopic creatures that lit up to create a
blue lace effect,” says photographer Joanne Paquette. “Noctiluca are tiny [each 0.2–2mm], so to see them so highly concentrated was very unusual.”