Red Tide of April 2016

Yep, red tide is back at Clearwater Beach and Honeymoon Island.  It’s been hanging around since the beginning of April.

Red tide is an organism, a phytoplankton.  The over abundance of phytoplankton is commonly known as red tide.  Its scientific name is Karenia brevis (genus, species), or K. brevis shortened.  Red tides is when there is an over-abundance of pytoplankton in the water(called an algae bloom).  The algae blooms are often during the warmer months in the Gulf of Mexico, but its timing can be somewhat unpredictable.

It’s not at all dangerous to be exposed to red tide, and zero deaths have been attributed to the phytoplankton: http://taylor.ifas.ufl.edu/marine_redtide.shtml.

Reports from University of South Florida sampling show medium concentrations of red tide primarily in North Pinellas (http://ocgweb.marine.usf.edu/hab_tracking/HAB_trajectories.html & http://ocgweb.marine.usf.edu/hab_tracking/HAB_trajectories_R3.html).  NOAA has reported moderate levels of red tide in Northern Pinellas, Southern Pinellas, Southern Charlotte(south of Venice), and Northern Lee (Captiva) http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/hab/.

Here is a chart that shows the cells per liter concentrations, and the effects of these concentrations:

While at the Beach over the past couple weeks, the airborne irritants associated with the bloom were noticeable, and quite harsh at times.  There weren’t many dead fish on the beach like we usually see during extreme red tide blooms, the blooms that devour the entire coast.  According to Captain Fraley, there were patches of red tide throughout offshore waters, areas that had noticeable airborn irritants, but it wasn’t completely engulfing.  One of the lifegaurds on the Sand Key tower said someone picked up a dead sea turtle, but that was the primary extent of the death toll experienced on the beach. Churned up areas of water are noticeably more irritating.

Hopefully all the east wind and currents in the forecast will disperse the red tide throughout the gulf.