Millions of hotaru-ika, firefly squid, rise from 300m to spawn and are pushed into the bay, where they glow electric blue in…Millions of hotaru-ika, firefly squid, rise from 300m to spawn and are pushed into the bay, where they glow electric blue in the nets and in the surf. Fishermen haul glowing nets in the dark. It is one of the strangest and least-known bioluminescent spectacles on earth. Toyama Bay's unusually steep underwater topography, a deep trench close to shore, is what brings a deep-water species into the shallows. The squid have been fished here for centuries and the run is a designated Japanese Natural Monument. The same bay also produces 'ghost' mirages and, in winter, the buri (yellowtail) fishery. Anchorage: Toyama and Namerikawa harbours; pre-dawn boat trips run in season. Hazards: No site-specific hazards noted, brief normally. Altro