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Winters often bring massive blooms of the dinoflagellate, Noctiluca scintillans, to the Arabian Sea. Noctiluca scintillans organisms are unicellular and possess a tentacle. The green-colored type of the species is the most common in this region and can contain thousands of individuals of a symbiotic organism - Pedinomonas noctiluca - which gives it its distinctive green color, clearly visible in this image.
Noctiluca scintillans cells also produce bright blue bio-luminescence flashes when the water around them is agitated by ships, swimming organisms, or waves.
This image was taken by the OCI sensor aboard PACE on February 17, 2025.
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