Marine Phosphorescent Wheels

For over a century, sailors have reported encountering eerie and spectacular displays of "marine phosphorescent wheels"—massive, glowing circular patterns of light that appear on or beneath the surface of the ocean, particularly in the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, and South China Sea. These rotating wheels, sometimes accompanied by luminous spokes or parallel bands of light, can stretch for hundreds of meters, appear to spin at high speeds, and often occur in complete silence, baffling observers.

Despite a wide range of proposed explanations—from glowing plankton reacting to physical disturbances, to seismic activity, or even connections to UFO phenomena—no definitive cause has been confirmed, and accounts vary wildly in appearance and behavior. Witness reports describe surreal scenes, such as seas glowing like snowfields or being surrounded by spinning blue cartwheels of light, all pointing to one of the ocean's most dazzling and least understood mysteries.

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