Sparks DO fly during SEX…

 

Google Image

… at least during foreplay for some species according to WIKIPEDIA.org in its explanation of the naturally occurring OSTRACOD PHENOMENOM. 

Ostracods are a class of the Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 70,000 species have been identified, grouped into several orders. They are small crustaceans, typically around 1 mm (0.039 in) in size.  Some ostracods have a light organ in which they produce luminescent chemicals. Most use the light as predation defense, while some use the light for mating (only in the Caribbean). These ostracods are called "blue sand" or "blue tears" and glow blue in the dark at night. Their bioluminescent properties made them valuable to the Japanese during World War II, when the Japanese army collected large amounts from the ocean to use as a convenient light for reading maps and other papers at night. The light from these ostracods, called umihotaru in Japanese, was sufficient to read by but not bright enough to give away troops' position to enemies.

This season while baching it in Bonaire, Diver Dan was fortunate to meet a lovely Swiss couple who cruise on their sailing yacht MASELLE and are extremely experienced divers. Thomas recently completed his 200th dive while his wife Gabrielle has done nearly 400.  Over the past few months they have often invited Dan to be a third “buddy” so he could enjoy the sport safely. 

Thomas & Gabrielle of sv MASELLE

A few days ago, Thomas and Gabrielle organized a night dive and snorkel trip for seven of us to experience the OSTRACOD PHENOMENON.  This is NOT the same as what you may find in bioluminescent bays around the Caribbean.  The mating ritual of the Ostracods  ONLY occurs two to five days after a full moon at forty-five minutes after sunset and usually lasts about twenty minutes.  Ostracods only breed around soft corals that are located near a sandy bottom off a shore that has minimal residential or city lights to interfere. 





It was determined that Bonaire’s dive site Petrie’s Pillar (a curious story is behind the name of this site) was a likely spot for us to observe this unique phenomena. So just before sunset, we all motored the distance to Petrie’s Pillar and fellow cruisers Peter and Katrine of sv FLORENTINE, a German flagged vessel, allowed us to use their boat as a base from which to dive.

Katrine & Peter of sv FLORENTINE

The sun set at 6:14 pm and shorty afterward Gabrielle, Thomas, and Dan suited up in their dive gear and entered the water toting waterproof flash lights.  About twenty minutes later, the rest of us including Peter and Katrine’s son Jacob jumped in to snorkel and wait for the show.  It was dark, of course, but we could see the three divers every so often even though they had not illuminated their torches yet.  We also could see a few huge tarpons milling around the divers.  (Although tarpon are harmless, I certainly wouldn’t want to bump into one in the eerie darkness.)





The divers light their torches below.

Then the divers at the bottom began to take turns passing their flashlights over the soft corals near them and the show began!  Thomas surfaced to tell us what we already knew since we were in the water watching with great anticipation.  From a snorkelers point of view, we saw a twinkling of tiny lights among the corals.  It was amazing to watch as our divers continued to flash their torches every so often to further activate the ostracods.  The sexy light show lasted well beyond the usual twenty minutes and we enjoyed every moment!


Google Image

From a diver’s point of view, the ostracods light up as depicted in this Google Image as they swim upward.  We attempted to take photos of the event, but every one came out black. (AMATURES!)

A SPECIAL NOTE OF GRATITUDE goes out to Thomas and Gabrielle for organizing this adventure and for including Dan in many of your dives over the past few months.  And many THANKS to Katrine and Peter for hosting us  that evening in your home, FLORENTINE.