A child's interpertation of what the red tide near his house looks like.Red Tide
Famous Quote from Brendan O'Connor: "It's Stinky and it's red!"
A child's interpertation of what the red tide near his house looks like.
Red Tide is when the ocean water turns a brownish red color on the surface. Red tide is the result of a massive bloom (multiplication) of single celled algae called Gymnodinium, which is a type of dinoflagellate(plankton). These plankton are generally found in warm saltwater, but have been known to live in areas of lower temperature.
Two cells of Gymnodinium
When there is a massive plankton bloom, the dinoflagellates, which are asexual, reproduce so rapidly and in such a high concentration, the water seems to turn a reddish brown or even green color.
Because these phytoplankton are photosynthetic, they require carbon dioxide for survival. The phytoplankton take in the carbon dioxide and absorb sunlight, and then release oxygen gas into the water. When such a massive bloom occurs, a lot of oxygen is released into the water, allowing for a massive population increase in the heterotrophic bacteria that eat the plankton. This is known as eutrophication. Eutrophication is a set of physical, chemical, and biological changes that take place when excessive nutrients are released into the water. In this case, the excessive amount of oxygen allows for a large amount of heterotrophs to breed. Due to the overabundence of plankton, the source of their nutrients (carbon dioxide) is used up. In addition, the large number of predators combines with the lack of carbon dioxide to kill off the entire population of plankton.
When the plankton die off, the amount of oxygen drops off. When this occurs, many of the other organisms in the water start to die off. This is why red tides are so devastating to the marine environment. This can also affect humans.
During the bloom some dinoflagellates produce neurotoxins. Filter-feeding shellfish, such as oysters, clams, mussels, and other bivalve mollusks that consume the dinoflagellates concentrate the toxin in various organs. Thus, these shellfish are dangerous for humans to eat. It is usually safe to eat the "hard" meat of crabs, lobsters, scallops, or finfish because this is not where the accumulation of the toxin occurs. Usually, most people are fine when they are around the beach during a red tide. However, some people have reported respiratory problems or skin irritation. I would recommend staying away from a beach where red tide is occuring.
Links
Here are links to related red tide pages:
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