Noctiluca scintillans

Description and Significance

Noctiluca scintillans, also known as the sea sparkle, is a single-celled dinoflagellate that exhibits bioluminescence. They are free-living marine plankton, which range between 200-2000 micrometers in diameter. They are found mostly in estuaries and other coastal regions and can be found in both warm and cold waters. N. scintillans are heterotrophic and non-photosynthetic, meaning they receive their carbon from organic compounds and receive their energy through the ingestion of organic substances. They don’t have any chloroplasts so, their cytoplasm is relatively clear. N. scintillans are non-motile, even though they possess a flagellum, and only move vertically by changing their buoyancy using gas vacuoles. N. scintillans can reproduce asexually, by binary fission, and sexually, using isogametes through a diplontic lifecycle. N. scintillans are sometimes known to have a large population boom known as red or green tides (depending on what color endosymbionts are present in their vacuoles.) These tides cause the death of many marine animals. N. scintillans does not, however, release exotoxins like many other dinoflagellates do. Instead, it is believed that they kill these animals by suffocation due to the release of ammonia and carbon dioxide, causing anoxic water conditions.

Current Research

Ride Tide of Noctiluca Scintillans and it's Impact on the Coastal Water Quality of the Near-Shore Waters, Off the Rushikulya River, Bay of Bengal

This study is being conducted to check the quality of the water after red tides of N. scintillans. The researchers take samples of the water from different depths and determine the quality of the water by checking temperature, salinity, nitrate, nitrite and phosphate concentration.

Seasonality of the Bloom-Forming Hetertrophic dinoflagellate Noctiluca Scintillans in the Gulf of Oman in Relation to Environmental Conditions

This study is being conducted to find what environmental factors contribute to the population blooms of Noctiluca Scintillans. They are checking hydrographic and biological factors as well as other factors such as wind intensity. They found that the greatest environmental factor affecting the abundance and biomass of N. scintillans is diatom blooms.