There are few things I could watch for hours, but bioluminescent plankton is absolutely one of them. Next time you hear of strong red tide, take a midnight walk out on the beach.

Taiwanese photographer Will Ho captures stunning images of bioluminescence at the Dusit Thani Maldives in Mudhdhoo that transforms the beaches into a magical, glowing coastline. The blue speckled sands provide a beautifully surreal accent to the landscape at night as the waves crash onto the shore, making it look like a spectacular reflection of a starry sky on the ground.

Like on the coastlines of Australia, these beaches are populated by tiny phytoplankton that radiate vibrant sapphire luminesce as a defensive reaction to a disturbance in their environment. The natural response of the microorganisms could be to anything from the presence of a predator to nothing more than the moving of the tides.