{"id":124145,"date":"2025-11-08T05:44:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T05:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/124145\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T05:44:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T05:44:12","slug":"screams-of-joy-bioluminescence-stuns-onlookers-at-auckland-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/124145\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Screams of joy’ – Bioluminescence stuns onlookers at Auckland beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

A photographer says a bioluminescent display he captured on Friday night at a North Auckland beach was \u201cthe best show\u201d of the spectacular natural light show that he\u2019d ever seen.<\/p>\n

Matthew Davison captured the display at Stanmore Bay after noticing conditions were right for bioluminescence using a tool he built that uses satellite imagery to spot algal blooms. <\/p>\n

“That gave me the heads up during the day that the entire shore around Stanmore Bay was a brilliant red\/pink, which is a sure sign something is on the way.”<\/p>\n

Spectacular bioluminescence display stuns onlookers – watch on TVNZ+<\/a><\/p>\n

Davison caught the phenomenon between 9 and 11pm.<\/p>\n

\"Bioluminescence<\/p>\n

Bioluminescence at Auckland’s Stanmore Bay on Friday, 7 November. (Source: Matthew Davison)<\/p>\n

He said word spread fast on social media, with hundreds of people flocking to catch a glimpse. <\/p>\n

“It started off with just a few, then people posted their images on social media and it took off big time. I would say at least 500 people gathered there.<\/p>\n

“Plenty of families, heaps of screams of joy and even people swimming in it!”<\/p>\n

\"Crowds<\/p>\n

Crowds gather to watch the display at Stanmore Bay. (Source: Matthew Davison)<\/p>\n

Davison enjoyed the moment himself, he told 1News.<\/p>\n

“It was such an unforgettable evening. Brilliant blue and neon green bioluminescence stretched as far as I could see, illuminating the entire shoreline. <\/p>\n

“I’ve been chasing bioluminescence for over a decade, and this was easily the best show I’ve seen.”<\/p>\n

\"Bioluminescence<\/p>\n

Bioluminescence at Auckland’s Stanmore Bay on Friday, 7 November. (Source: Matthew Davison)<\/p>\n

Bioluminescence is produced by an enzyme system (luciferin\/luciferase) which emits light and is also used by other organisms, like bacteria and fireflies.<\/p>\n

It can be tricky to photograph without the proper setup and camera settings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A photographer says a bioluminescent display he captured on Friday night at a North Auckland beach was \u201cthe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[51,273,42,43,145,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-124145","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-auckland","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-technology","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}