BACKGROUND: At Vieques Bay in Puerto Rico, the water off the beach contains up to 150,000 dinoflagellates per liter to make it the brightest bioluminescent bays in the world. These photos illustrate the density of dinos in the bay -- enough to make snow angels in the water!

In a similar fashion to the way we perceive being touched, this is the type of stimulation that causes a dinoflagellate to produce a flash of light. Dinos are highly sensitive to anything that pushes on their cell wall. The luminescence is transient and the cells soon return to their resting state. Most cells flash for less than a second, however others appear to glow for 1-6 seconds. Upon repeated stimulation, light emission is much reduced and the lux-system becomes "saturated". Within about half an hour of rest, the luminescence becomes brighter again.

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