Encountering the Red Tide
Since we had a wedding to attend in South Carolina in mid August, we decided to spend the second half of this month at our condo on Longboat Key, Florida. Unfortunately, in the weeks leading up to the wedding, we learned that a severe and persistent red tide had developed along the coast of Southwest Florida. Nevertheless, we decided to investigate for ourselves. A toxic algal bloom of Karenia brevis , a red tide results in extensive fish kills, littering the beaches with rotting fish; a neurotoxin released by the algae may also kill dolphins and manatees and, this year, the corpse of a whale shark washed ashore. In addition, particulate debris from the abundant algae wafts in on the sea breeze, causing eye, throat and lung irritation for those humans who do not abandon the region altogether. We arrived to find that the dead fish odor was indeed strong along the beaches but that the wind-blown irritants were rather mild. Though we will likely depart earlier than ...