Rocks Shedding Blue Tears: The "Sea Fireflies" of Japan's Seto Inland Sea

When it comes to rocks, most people probably wouldn’t give them a second glance, as rocks aren’t usually considered a special natural attraction. But what if we told you there’s a type of rock in this world that can “shed blue tears”? Would you believe it? Curious to find out more?

The photography studio Tdub Photo once published a series of photos titled “Crying Stones,” featuring rocks emitting a blue glow as if they were crying. After these images spread widely online, manyJapanesepeople, and even foreign tourists, said the sight was so beautiful it seemed unbelievable, and they wanted to visit the location in the photos to find these blue-tear-shedding rocks.

It turns out this photo series was takenon the coast of the Seto Inland Sea inOkayamaPrefecture. Although it looks like the rocks themselves are glowing blue, the light actually comes not from the rocks but from tiny shrimp (Vargula hilgendorfii), which are therefore also called “sea fireflies.” These shrimp are only 3 millimeters long and aremore commonly found in the southern coastal regions of

Japan. The shrimp often inhabit shallow waters near the shore, so sometimes they get washed ashore along with seawater and end up on the rocks. If you don’t look closely, you might mistake them for sapphire jewels scattered across the sand.

 However, it’s actually impossible for so many sea fireflies to gather on the shore at the same time—it took the photographers a lot of time and effort to capture the scene. But while shooting, they didn’t forget to protect the natural ecology. After the photos were taken, all the sea fireflies that had been brought ashore were released back into the ocean.

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