The Blue Rivers of Bioluminescent Shrimp

The creative duo photographer Trevor Williams and Jonathan Galione has photographed off the coast of Okayama, Japan. The series unique thing is the weeping stones is a photo series that eerie blue light emitted by a native species of bioluminescent shrimp. Therefore, it is more usually referred to as sea fireflies, these sporadic creatures live in the sand in shallow sea water, floating somewhere between the extremes of high and low tide. At just 3 mm in length the shrimp are tremendously small light sources, but once grouped together they take on abstract patterns that light up the water around them.

In order to group such a large number of sea fireflies, or “Vargula Hilgendorfii”, they had to collect the creatures by enticing them with raw bacon into jars and repositioning their tiny bodies on the rocks. Photographing and placing the bioluminescent shrimp next to the shore ensured that the photographers did not harm them, and allowed them to quickly return the animals back to the water below. This fall, Tdub photo hopes to capture more bioluminescent pictures by focusing on glowing mushrooms. Although, you can see an earlier project the duo produced with bioluminescent shrimp on their website, and see more of their travels over on their Instagram and Facebook.