![]() Harmful “algal bloom” is filtered from the water by shellfish such as clams, mussels, oysters, scallops or small fish. Alexandrium occur in chains but are also quite mobile because of flagella as can be seen in fig.1. That is what Susan Saupe, oceanographer by trade said. They are often reddish but can be brown, yellow, green, or milky in color.Īlexandrium causes the red tides that are found in Alaska, which is larger than Gonyaulax. When red tide algae reproduce in dense concentrations or “blooms”, they are visible and are discolored patches of ocean water. Gonyaulax, Noctiluca and Alexandria are the three genera that produce a toxin that affects the central nervous system of some marine animals so that they’re paralyzed and can’t breathe. These microscopic plants range in size from 1/1000 of a millimeter to two millimeters and float or swim in the upper 100 meters of the ocean. Some are capable of movement through the use of flagella while others drift with currents. Red tide is a naturally occurring, higher than normal concentration of microscopic, single celled, photosynthetic algae. In addition, personal use kits are also being investigated and may be available in the near future. They include the monitoring of the medical facilities, periodic analysis of the shellfish, plankton tows, cyst analysis and designated cultures of mussels and oysters. We propose a variety of monitoring methods. There is significant commercial and sport harvesting of shellfish along the Kachemak Bay and Cook Inlet beaches. The only red tide that is known to have occurred this far north is the PSP, Paralytic Shellfish Poison, which is a toxin that disrupts nerve functions. The effects of the toxin occur in the predators of these organisms. The toxin is taken in by filter feeding animals and stored in their flesh. Red tides can actually produce other colorations of the tides, but not all colored tides are necessarily toxic. The key point is the production of toxin. They are large blooms of toxin producing dinoflagellates that may color the water a deep red. ![]() Red tides occur all over the world but the farthest north they have been detected in Alaska is Cook Inlet. ![]()
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