The natural glow of bioluminescence sparkles throughout the oceans. You may notice it at night if you swim at the beach or trail something through the water off a boat and the water fluoresces a beautiful electric blue. It’s an entrancing sight.

Bioluminescence is created by chemical reactions inside microscopic plankton which give off light when disturbed by movement. It is more noticeable when plankton are in bloom. This can occur after floods when nutrient rich water flows off land into the sea or a lake and the plankton gobble the nutrients up. These stunning pictures show bioluminescence in Lake Victoria on the Gippsland Lakes in Australia.

Photos by Astrophotographer Phil Hart. http://www.philhart.com/tag/astrophotography