sea sparkle

Noun

sea sparkle (plural sea sparkles)

1. The bioluminescent dinoflagellate Noctiluca scintillans (syn. Noctiluca miliaris), that causes some seafire.
   • Their quantity remained also high in summer, when the role of the sea sparkle N. scintillans and of meroplankton, especially B. improvisus, was increasing.2017, A. K. Vinogradov, Yu. I. Bogatova, I. A. Synegub, Ecology of Marine Ports of the Black and Azov Sea Basin, page 157
   • Sea Sparkle / Latin name: Noctiluca scintillans / […] A single-celled organism that can glow blue at night / […] sea sparkle float in coastal waters in swarms of millions. […] As fish and other creatures swim through the water, they disturb the sea sparkle, which then glow a vivid fluorescent blue....2017, Kate Baker, Secrets of the Sea, page 14
2. The glow created by these dinoflagellates; seafire.
   • The nocturnal fish are agile and quick to take flight, wary of reef sharks and moray eels scouring the coral heads, but as they swim and disturb the water, the darkness is sometimes interrupted by the bioluminescent flashes of 'sea sparkle', product of the microscopic dinoflagellate Noctiluca...2006, Michael Bright, Wild Caribbean, page 190
   • Bioluminescence from microscopic organisms creates sea-sparkle, a globally occurring, nocturnal phenomenon of blue sparkling light in breaking waves or around moving objects.2019, Thomas M. Schmidt, Encyclopedia of Microbiology, page 526