An eerie blue glow in and around the city's coastline has ignited a buzz among denizens and netizens but the phenomenon may be nothing more than the blooming of a non-toxic marine species, commonly called "sea sparkle."
Asked about the phenomenon, also known as bioluminescence, Tamil Nadu Dr J Jayalalitha Fisheries University Vice Chancellor S Felix said it may be due to the blooming of "non-toxic marine dinoflagellate (unicellular organism) species,called Noctiluca scintillans (sea sparkle)."
It is slimy in nature during heavy bloom since it contained "endosymbiotic (organism that lives in the cells of another organism) green algae species Pedinomonas sp."
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