Why beaches in UK are lighting up blue at night?

The beaches in the UK have been glowing with a blue colour during the night, leaving people amazed and curious about what is causing that glow, as people shared numerous images of shores illuminating at nighttime.

The sea shores are lighting up because of a maritime organism called bioluminescent plankton.

These lightings in the plankton occur when chemical reactions take place in the living creature. And in the case of plankton, luminosity is visible when plankton is moving in the ocean.

This phenomenon can be witnessed in several parts of the UK at a particular time of the year in the areas like Carmarthen, the Gower and Porthcawl in Wales, or Cornwall.

However, it is reported to be found in tropical areas and warm seas such as the Caribbean or Southeast Asia.

People have been fortunate enough to snap the occurrence in the summer seasons showing beaching lighting up.

Some of them just went on and waited for night to fall so that they can capture the moment as plankton illuminated the sea in blue.

According to WalesOnline report, Thomas Winstone took a brilliant picture of the plankton in south Wales — and the image is really dramatic.

Richard Haynes also captured a couple of beautiful snaps of the plankton at the eastern stretch of Oxwich Bay between midnight and 3am on Friday morning

While it cannot be said for certain what the best conditions to see plankton are but they appear on warm seas and on clear, sunny days. 

But the bioluminescence has also been spotted in heavy rain and thick fog.

For those looking, the plankton appears as a faint glow but can be stronger on some nights. The blue neon glow can be seen from as far as 100-200m away as the waves break, or as you agitate the water by splashing or throwing in a pebble, according to reports from Metro UK.