Blue Tide Spotted in Maharashtra Coastline

Why in News ?

Recently, Blue Tide made an appearance at Mumbai's Juhu Beach and Devgad, Velas and Murad along Maharashtra's coastline.

What is Blue Tide ?

The bioluminescence/light emitting from marine life make the sea appear a deep shade of blue.

Background :

Bioluminescence has been an annual occurence along the West Coast since 2016, especially during the months of November and December.

Why appear 'Blue Tide' ?

• Its occur due to microscopic marine plants /Phytoplankton i.e. dinoflagellates produce light through chemical reactions in proteins.

• Wave disturb these unicellular microorganisms and make them release blue light.

• Due to eutrophication of the sea water. 

What is Bioluminescence ?

• It is property of a living organism to produce and emit light.

• Animals, plants, fungi and bacteria show bioluminescence. 

• Bioluminescence is found in many marine organisms such as bacteria, algae, Jellyfish, worms, crustaceans, sea stars, fish and sharks.

• Luminescence is generally higher in deep-living and planktonic organism than shallow species.

What causes Bioluminescence in dinoflagellate/phytoplankton ?

According to Scientific Research, it is due to -

• Heavy rainfall

• fertilizers runoff.

• discharge of sewage into the ocean.

Is the Blue Tide Harmful ?

• During blue tide, it is dangerous for  marine animals due to feeding of toxic dinoflagellate.

• The smaller blooms may be harmless, but larger blooms may have impact the marine lifes.

• It is thread to blue economy on one hand and benificial in tourism on another hand.

• It is threatening to marine ecosystems.

According to Gurudas Nulkar (Ecologist) -

"It is spectacle but in reality, it is ecological indicator of degraded water quality. The phytoplankton shows up where sea water has low dissolved oxygen and high presence of nitrogen.

Note : Bioluminescence is not only common in India, there are numerous tourist places across the world which is for famous for it. E.g. Bay in Puerto Rico, San Diego in California, Navarre Beech in Florida, Toyama Bay in Japan etc.

Also Read : Ocean Tides

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