The magical glow-in the dark beach - PHOTO

But one photographer celebrating his wedding was lucky enough to witness a stretch of beach lit up by bioluminescent phytoplankton.Will Ho stumbled upon the awe-inspiring sight on a windy night in the Maldives.The Taiwanese photographer saw tiny organisms, which glow like fireflies, riding waves and being washed up on the beach, to create dazzling patterns in the shallow water.The minute creatures are thought to emit light when they are stressed and as Mr Ho said the evening was a windy one, it is likely the organisms were agitated by crashing waves.He took a couple of photos of glowing footsteps, which are caused as the organisms can be present in wet beach and get stressed when they are trodden on, making it possible for a person to see an illuminated path of where they have walked.While bioluminescent phytoplankton has been known about for some time, it is only recently that biologists have worked out what causes them to glow.Marine Biologist Jorge Ribas told Discovery News the water is filled with bioluminescent phytoplankton called Lingulodinium polyedrum.The microorganisms glow when stressed and reasons for their agitation include strong waves, a kayaker’s paddle splashing the water or a surfer carving up the water.‘It was lucky for me to see such beautiful scenery and I took several pictures as great memories, but it's sad to see the garbage on the beach when I zoomed in the picture in my laptop,’ Mr Ho wrote on his Flickr page. The glowing beach phenomenon has been spotted around San Diego, California on a fairly regular basis since 1901, but there, the water appears slightly red because of an algal bloom, known as a red tide.(dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az