Then, on the night of March 19, Quintanilla noticed that the neon green illumination of the "little island off the pier" had become even brighter. "Tonight, the bioluminescence was obvious," he said.

The results are a lower total energy state, and the difference in energy is resolved by the emission of a photon of light, which, in the case of neon, is a dull reddish-orange. Nothing unusual there.