Noctiluca, genus of marine dinoflagellate in the family Noctilucaceae, consisting of a single species, Noctiluca scintillans (or N. miliaris), one of the most commonly occurring bioluminescent organisms in coastal regions of the world. The scintillating effect of Noctiluca’s bioluminescence, which is most conspicuous at night during a bloom (population increase), was historically a mysterious phenomenon, frequently contributing to what was called “burning of the sea” or “sea sparkle” by sailors and coastal inhabitants. Today, such blooms, which form a thick scum across the sea surface, visibly red or pink in daylight, are known to be hazardous to fish and certain other marine species.
English naturalist Henry Baker, in 1753, provided a scientific description of Noctiluca, which is a large (about 1–2 mm [0.04–0.08 inch] in diameter), spherical, gelatinous single-celled organism enveloped in a thin pellicle (outer covering). The cell contains a centrally located nucleus. Embedded within the cell cytoplasm are numerous vacuoles (membrane-bound spaces) and a network of cytoplasmic strands, which branch out in irregular patterns from the centre of the cell to its periphery. With the exception of rare nonluminescent Noctiluca, the strands become beaded with thousands of granules that contain luciferin and luciferase, the substances that carry out the bioluminescence reaction. Bioluminescence in Noctiluca is triggered primarily by mechanical stimulus, such as agitation of the water by wave action; in such instances, luminescence occurs as a flash. By contrast, stressed or dying cells emit a weak luminescence, sustained over minutes.
Also extending from the protoplasm of Noctiluca, along the median line of the cell, is a peristome (groove), at one end of which lies a cytostome (mouth). A flagellum and a tentacle, which emerge adjacent to the cytostome, aid in movement (primarily buoyancy control) and the capture of food. Noctiluca feeds on various minute marine organisms, including bacteria, copepods, and diatoms; it engulfs its victims through the cytostome in a form of phagocytosis. In some tropical and subtropical parts of the world, Noctiluca receives its nutrition mainly via endosymbiosis with the photosynthetic organism Pedinomonas noctilucae. Thousands of these organisms live inside the vacuoles of a single Noctiluca, being so abundant as to impart a green colour to Noctiluca (the so-called green Noctiluca).
Noctiluca reproduce through binary fission (separation of the cell into two bodies) or multiple fission (separation of the cell into more than two bodies). The latter, which involves the cell-division processes of meiosis and mitosis, results in the production of numerous motile swarmers that bud off from the parent cell.