Red Tide Research

[GordMay]

So You've Found Red Tide. Now What? ~ By: David Donald

Researchers work to find ways to kill red tide

Finding a way to kill red tide or mitigate its harmful affects on humans, fish and other wildlife is one area being studied by Mote’s Center for Ecotoxicology, where the center’s director, Dr. Richard Pierce, is heading up studies using clay and ozone to destroy the algae.

Red tide, or Karenia brevis, is a single-celled plantlike organism that releases harmful toxins as it breaks down in the environment. The toxins can be released into the water or become airborne and inhaled by humans or marine mammals. “Red tide is what’s called a ‘naked dinoflagellate,’ meaning that it doesn’t have any kind of outer covering so the cells break apart when they go through fish gills, releasing the neurotoxins that kill the fish,” Pierce said. Wave action and decomposition can also break down the cells and release toxins ...
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http://www.mote.org/index.php?src=di...agazine&id=105

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