Florida residents are asked not to go to the beaches because of toxic algae

Commission for the Protection of Fish and Wildlife Florida warns of the danger of swimming in the ocean and staying on the beaches along the Gulf of Mexico.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain

This is due to a natural phenomenon called Red Tide, which is caused by an increased concentration of algae that release dangerous toxins.

These toxins are often fatal to marine life and can cause severe respiratory and allergic reactions in humans.

Red tide - the common name for a particular case of blooming water caused by the outbreak of certain algae.

These plants, especially phytoplankton, single-celled, can form dense, visible stripes on the surface of the water. Some phytoplankton species, such as dinoflagellates, contain photosynthetic pigments whose color varies from green to brown and red. They create the impression that the water has a reddish color or even pink, hence the name of the phenomenon.

Sometimes red tides are associated with the production of natural toxins that lead to oxygen depletion or other dangerous effects, and are generally described as harmful algal blooms. The most important effects of red tides are the death of marine and coastal species of fish, birds, marine mammals and other organisms associated with them.

Florida's red tides are especially dangerous for marine organisms because they produce the neurotoxin brevetoxin, the source of which is algae. Karenia brevis.

Spread of dangerous algae on the beaches of Florida.
Infographics: Commission for the Protection of Fish and Wildlife

Toxins released into the water by microscopic algae can accumulate in the bodies of fish and mollusks (especially bivalves, oysters and mussels), since they accumulate poison in their body during the filtration feed by plankton. If the amount of toxins exceeds the norm, water and its inhabitants become extremely dangerous for the health and life of people. Getting into the body with contaminated seafood, toxins can cause serious poisoning, writes Unotices.

The phenomenon of "red tide", in which there is a massive death of fish, occurs in cases where external factors are favorable for reproduction of dinoflagellates (algae) and at the same time, the number of predators is less than usual. The sizes of dinoflagellates do not exceed hundredths of a millimeter, however they multiply so quickly that their concentration can reach 100 million organisms per 1 l of sea water.

In such years, high concentrations of algae kill millions of marine inhabitants. For example, in the 1947 year, off the coast of Florida, about 50 million fish died. In 2014, 276 manatees died as a result of the "red tide" on the Gulf Coast due to poisonous algae poisoning.

"Red tides" are observed in many seas, causing allergic reactions and difficulty breathing in humans. In the Pacific waters of Kamchatka, people are reliably aware of the deaths due to this phenomenon, in particular due to the consumption of mollusks infected with toxins in humans.

There is a theory that the cause of whales being cast ashore or dolphins dying is the toxins secreted by these algae. They have several types of toxins, including those that act on the nervous system, and on the muscular system, and also cause respiratory failure. Both whales and dolphins under the influence of these poisons can lose their orientation in space.

Therefore, if you know that the water is contaminated, you need to avoid any contact with it, do not eat shellfish and fish washed ashore, and also try not to deeply inhale the air in close proximity to the water - sometimes even inhaling this toxin can lead to coughing and stings in the eyes.

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