This morning when I walked into the Explainer lounge, I was delighted to hear everyone talking about the very thing that has been putting me in a good mood: Last week, Diane W. introduced us to something super magical–sea sparkles (bioluminescent algae)! We each got to take home a splash of them in test tubes, and are experimenting with keeping them alive on our windowsills. I’m completely enamored with my sea sparkles; it’s a lot like catching fire flies, except they actually have a chance of making it through the night. There’s just something about a sea of tiny, living beings that glow like stars inside of a jar that captures my attention.
With some insights from the instructables website, I (and many Explainers!) set out to try to sustain this life. Just like everything else we do, this is an experiment that may need some revision.
Here’s what I did, and how it’s going so far:
1. Kept the sparkles in their original test tube for a few days (while waiting for a trip to the beach to capture some ocean water), and they did just fine.
2. Scooped up a jar of bay water from near Planet Granite. Since this spot is near the Golden Gate Bridge, I’m assuming that the salinity is similar to ocean water. (If I’d gone to Fort Mason first to check out “Tasting the Tides”, I might actually know whether that’s the case…)
3. Boiled the bay water for several minutes to kill any critters that might compete with or eat my algae.
4. Boiled another jar in tap water to sterilize it.
5. Let everything cool to room temperature.
6. Poured the sparkles (the “starter culture”) into the jar of boiled bay water.
7. Placed the jar in my windowsill–it’s a spot that gets indirect sunlight, so it doesn’t get hot.
8. Swirl the water around in the dark at night to watch the tiny stars!
9. After one day in the jar of bay water, the sparkles are alive but seem tired. It could be the new water, or it could be that there wasn’t much sunlight today.
I’ll update this post in about a week with their progress. I’m hoping that they’ll multiply… if they do, then my friends will each get a jar of their own:)
Sal shared this website with a story and photos about a bioluminescent algae occurrence in nature. If anyone manages to get a good video of their algae, please post!
One thing that might be missing from the instructables site – the intensity of the glow in places like Fajardo bay in Puerto Rico is due to the vitamin b-12 released by the Mangrove species that surround the biolumenecent bay. Teh Mangroves act as filters that increase the salinity of the bay, and the vitamin b-12 is released as the Mangrove tannins decay.
If you ever get the chance to see Fajardo bay at night, its an experience you will never forget.
After a few days, my sea sparkles seemed to be multiplying. But then about a week later, there were no lights at all. There are a few things that could have gone wrong: the water may have been contaminated, the water may have had the wrong salinity, they may have run out of air, or there might have been a problem that I haven’t thought of. I left the lid on my jar, and I have a feeling that as they reproduced, they photosynthesized more, and ran out of CO2. If I get to try this again, I’m going to try leaving the lid off of the jar.
My sea sparkles also seemed to be multiplying and doing WONDERFUL for about two weeks. Some Explainers and I were talking to Diane about what they could be living off of in our jars. Something in the Bay water was keeping them alive, but what was it, and when might it run out? Instead of waiting for this mysterious food source to run out we talked out some different food solutions. What we came up with- urine. Why not? Full of nutrients. That night I went home, collected a urine sample (my own) and fed just a few drops to my jar of sea sparkles. The next day the whole population was wiped out.
Fail? Maybe. After some discussion with Diane it turns out it might not have been my urine, but perhaps something else in the bay water that had taken over.
Yesterday I got a new sample of sea sparkles to bring home. It will be fun to see how they survive, and hopefully thrive, this time around. Sans urine.
That was a pretty hard-core experiment, Lea!
I noticed something last night that makes me think that I was wrong about the algae running out of air. The little test tube (with a screw-on lid) that contained the starter culture has a bit of water residue inside. When I shook the tube in the dark, the little drops of water left in there all lit up- and I haven’t opened that tube in weeks.