400 Square-Mile Red Tide Bloom Reported Off Florida Gulf Coast

[hatrack]

MARCO ISLAND, Fla. - "Scientists are tracking a 400 square-mile bloom of red tide algae lurking off the Gulf Coast, pointing to it as the likely cause of a mass fish kill and several dolphin deaths at the tip of the Florida peninsula. "It looks almost the size of a small state. It really is a large area of bloom," said Billy Causey, superintendent of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. "I'd have to say that this is the largest red tide bloom that I have ever seen."

A red tide is considered a higher-than-normal concentration of a plant-like microscopic algae. The species that usually contaminates the water during Florida Gulf Coast red tides is called Karenia brevis, which produces a toxin that can affect a fish's central nervous system.

It also produces a toxin in shellfish, which, if eaten, can cause a person to suffer tingling in the mouth and fingers, loss of coordination, hot and cold flashes and diarrhea.

EDIT

Commercial fishermen reported fish kills, dead crabs and four dolphin carcasses this weekend. Some people have reported dead grouper as large as 26 inches."

EDIT

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/nation/10366908.htm

[Modem Butterfly]

1. Red Tide? In December?

That's some bad juju right there.

[hatrack]

2. Not just that - a big-ass red tide, to boot

But whatever happens, you can rest assured that Jeb! and his cronies will do their level best to bury the news.

[ragin_acadian]

4. and when asked about it, they will then explain

that this happens all the time, and it is a normal cycle of nature. just like el nino, global warming, species extinction, cancer, childhood diabetes, mercury poisoning, ecoli in hamburgers, mad cows, locust plagues, rainstorms in southern kaliforneeya, and the dollar in the toilet. everyone has a job, and christmas sales are up.

go back to sleep little ones, nothing to worry about.
trust us, we're experts.

[Modem Butterfly]

5. Well, it's sorta natural

Bacterial blooms happen in nature. It's just not supposed to be warm enough for them to happen in FREAKING DECEMBER and certainly not so warm for them to be CATASTROPHIC in FREAKING DECEMBER!

Whew.

[ragin_acadian]

6. eh, sorry

sometimes i'm so sarcastic people think i'm serious.

honestly, i live on the gulf coast, and one thing is for certain, if you pump so much sewage into the bay from septic tank drainfields that are located too close to the water because a combination of real estate/big developers have convinced/paid planning departments that you can have a big house AND a septic tank on a 1/4 acre lot, then said bay is certain to overflow into gulf of mexico - and only three things grow in human feces: bacteria, plants, and college neocons.

I realize red tide is a natural algae. it should have a natural predator, but we overfished whatever that was. and on top of that we filled our emerald coast full of our own feces (oh, condo's do it to, local politicians are notorious for legislation financed by condo owner largess). hence the problem.

anyway, sorry again. i will try to curb the sarcasm to the point where it sounds like i am actually lampooning someone, not trying to sound like them.

[Modem Butterfly]

7. No, I knew you were being sarcastic

Your words were a dead-on parody of exactly how some folks think, so I answered you in that spirit. I should have made MYself clear.

BTW, welcome to DU!

:hi:

[ragin_acadian]

8. thank you for the welcome!

i'm kinda-sorta getting flamed on the gun issue in this forum: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2800626&mesg_id=2800626&page=
so i was getting a little paranoid.

are you a gulf-coaster? i notice that everyone in my family has developed a cough in the past couple of days. it seems to get worse every year this stuff rolls in. didn't expect a red christmas.

the "oh, no. it happens all the time" works on late model cars, not the environment. i don't know what it will take to convince people of that.

[shadu]

3. It would be freaky to sail thru this

red tide on every horizon

[htuttle]

9. It's Nature's Way of Telling You...

...Something's Wrong.