Photographer Alistair Bain captured this image of the glowing waves. (file pic)
Photo: Alistair Bain Photography
Amateur photographers have been flocking to Whangaparaoa Peninsula to photograph the spectacle.
Simon Thrush, a professor of marine sciences at Auckland University, said a number of plants and animals could be responsible for the spectacle.
Professor Thrush said the creatures light up for a range of different reasons including communication between organisms or a response to predators. I don t think there is anything unusual about what s going on. Often these things vary from year to year, just depending on climatic conditions. This year the waters are a little bit warmer so we might be seeing a stronger response because of that, he said.