Pitch dark.
Our dinghy bobs up and down in the waves. The wind tangles my hair as I get ready to jump into the black water.
Nope, we’re not in trouble.
We’re doing this for fun! It’s that one special night of the month when the ostracods are active, and we’re here to witness this magical phenomenon.
Ostracods? What kind of creatures are those?
Ostracods are plankton, a type of zooplankton. You can think of them as tiny shrimp-like creatures—also known seed shrimps —that average just one millimeter in size.
They’re extremely hard to spot, especially during a night dive. But tonight, we have a date with the them.
The timing? Day 3, 4, or 5 after the full moon, exactly 45 minutes after sunset and the show only lasts 20 minutes.
What do you need?
A dark dive site, far from any light pollution (meaning no ambient or artificial light), and a specific type of soft coral.
This is the moment when the male ostracods put on their best show to attract a female. They use light signals: a chemical they release glows in the water—that phenomenon is known as bioluminescence.
If you want to see it, you’ll need to do a night dive. And here’s the most important part: without any lights. Not for everyone, unless you have some night diving experience—or a very good and very personal briefing from an experienced dive guide.
So here we are, floating in the dark out at sea, waiting for our rendezvous time, ready to plunge into the inky depths without a light source.
We’ve come out with two dinghies, anchored side by side on the reef. Jean-Marc wraps up the final dive briefing, and then it’s just a matter of waiting for the right moment.
A few minutes before our "date," we quietly slip into the water one by one. We clip on our dive gear by feel, double-check everything to be sure everything is working, and descend into the darkness along the anchor line.
We let our eyes adjust. It always amazes me how well your vision adapts to the dark and how much you can actually see underwater. I can clearly make out the outline of my buddy, and even the bubbles we exhale seem to glow faintly. I cover the screen of my dive computer—it’s way too bright now and would ruin the moment.
We’re not even fully down yet when I start seeing the first flashes—tiny glowing dots. Early birds not wanting to miss the party? Or maybe just a little warm-up show?
A few minutes later, the main event begins. Pulsing points of light seem to fall from the soft coral, like strings of Christmas lights dripping down a window.
I stop watching my buddy—by the sound of his bubbles, I know exactly where he is. My focus shifts completely to the light show: the glowing dots fall in repeated series and patterns from the coral.
Visibility is great, and all around me I see these sparkling cascades. I feel like I’ve stepped into the movie Avatar. Or was it The Matrix? Maybe Alice in Wonderland?
It’s so hard to describe, but one thing’s for sure: it’s breathtaking. Like swimming through a magical dreamscape filled with underwater fireflies.
After about fifteen minutes, the lights start to fade. The males must have had some success tonight, don’t you think?
I hover a bit longer near a soft coral bush, where the pattern of falling light is still going strong. I count 18 glowing dots in a row, each one pulsing a little faster and falling slightly lower than the last. If I concentrate, I can even see the glowing chemical cloud in the water around the lights. The ostracods themselves are still invisible to the eye.
After the show, we switch on our lights and continue the dive. Aside from the usual sleeping parrotfish, lobsters, and shrimp, we notice some odd fish behavior.
Tiny fish swim in frantic little circles, almost like they’re drunk—you could catch them in your hand. And under the beam of our dive lights, we’re suddenly surrounded by clouds of translucent shrimp, each about five centimeters long. Creatures we don’t usually see on regular night dives.
Could this be related to fish eating ostracods and getting intoxicated by the chemicals? Or is it just a coincidence, unrelated to the light show?
Very little is known about this phenomenon—it was only scientifically described in 2019. These bioluminescent ostracods are found in the Caribbean. We’ve already seen them in Bonaire, Curaçao, and the Dominican Republic.
So no, this isn’t the first time Jean-Marc and I have done an ostracod dive. We try to do one every month. I’ve tried to film it, but unfortunately my camera isn’t sensitive enough to light. The disappointing result: a few tiny flashes on an otherwise black screen.
By coincidence, we know a marine biologist who also lives on her sailboat. She’s told us more about the ostracods and is especially curious about the sites where we’ve seen some lights rise from the coral while others fall.Turns out, these are two different ostracod species—something never before observed in a single location.
Pretty special, right? Making new discoveries on the touristy island of Curaçao—and at a well-known dive site, no less.
We really don’t need a spaceship to explore new frontiers. We just keep diving and observing— and I’m happy to share our underwater adventures with you.
If you are interested to read more about this phenomenon pleas read the following article of James Morin.
mooi geschreven!! zal echt wel betoverend zijn!!!