Mysterious glow of a ‘milky sea’ caught on camera for first time

Bioluminescence phenomenon has long eluded scientific inquiry owing to its remote and infrequent nature

Waking at 10pm, a sailor looked out from the deck of the superyacht Ganesha to see that the ocean had turned white. There is no moon, the sea is apparently full of plankton, but the bow wave is black. It gives the impression of sailing on snow," they wrote.

For centuries, mariners have described navigating unearthly night-time waters, lit up by a mysterious glow, but such milky seas" have long eluded scientific inquiry owing to their remote, transient and infrequent nature.