Justin D’Silva
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi
Udupi, Nov 23: A rare bioluminescence activity is recorded at the sea shore of Padukere, Malpe for the past few days. Blue colour shimmers on the waves while one touches the sea shore.
Bioluminescence is believed to be occurring at Udupi, Mattu and Padukere beeches for quite a long time. Photography enthusiasts identified a similar activity two days ago at Mattu beach.
The current bioluminescence activity occurring at Padukere is a glowing bright blue colour light, attracting lots of visitors to the sea shore. The visitors say that the waves will be glowing with utmost brightness after 11.00 pm. Manjunath Kamath, a visitor to Padukere beach had identified the activity during early October this year. But the intensity of the brightness has gradually increased and is easily visible to bare eyes.
Every night, a lot of enthusiastic photographers and zoology enthusiasts are visiting the beach to capture the bioluminescence activity.
Speaking about these changes at sea shore Dr Santhosh Kumar, head of the department, Zoology department, Poornaprajna College Udupi said, "This activity is a sort of biological indicator. This does not indicate any problem with the sea. Some marine organisms illuminate because of stress or disturbance. If there is a glow on the sea shore, it depicts that the environment is healthy. When there is an influx of pollutants, then the bioluminescent character of these organisms will decrease. Planktons near the shoreline illuminating indicates a healthy shoreline," he said.
Meanwhile, bioluminescence activity was also witnessed in Karwar, Kumta sea shores and in Surathkal. The photographs and videos of the glow went viral on social media attracting more number of visitors to the sea shore during the night. Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Shobha Karandlanje also tweeted about the issue and asked people to witness the activity.
"Illumination of light is due to a single cell organism. At times, these organisms gather in large numbers at the sea shore and due to the stress they undergo, they emit light. This is called bioluminescence activity. This activity is largely and often seen on the coastline of Karnataka which is not a good sign. There might be some sort of connection between the mermaid and bioluminescence. Large quantities of these organisms and their effect on other lifecycles is also to be studied. Many developmental activities are taking place in our coastal line and this causes frequent growth of these organisms. During the day, the sea will be visible as green and at night in dark blue color" says Dr Shivakumar Haragi, assistant professor, Karnataka University Zoology department, Karwar.
Bioluminescence activity on Karnataka sea coast has attracted numerous visitors to the shore.