Dianna & "Red Tide" - July 13th, 2005 at 07:52 PM
Hi Dianna ~
I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to answer your question sooner about "Red Water" but I've been busy. I did want to take a second and answer you today though because you were given wrong information in a different post.
"Red Water" or "Red Tide" is NOT pollution. It is, in fact, a misnomoer for a naturally occuring event that has nothing to do with tides and is often not even red!
Scientists perfer the phrase HAB meaning Harmful Algal Blooms but popular social phrases die hard at times, don't they?
What HAB has to do with is microscopic single cell plants that live in the sea. Most species of algae or phytoplankton are NOT harmful to man or beast. They are, in fact, at the very base of the food chain without which higher life wouldn't exist. These species have lived in the oceans for millions of years and again, are NOT pollution.
Occasionally, factors come together to cause one species or another to grow very fast or "bloom" into a dense, visible to the naked eye patch on the surface of the water. When this happens with a species that contains a reddish pigment, it can make the water seem red.
Scientists have been tracking the various forms of HAB around the globe for a long time and noticing how they are affected by things such as hurricanes rather than any man made phenomena or human ocean usage. A large bloom was carried into New England by the Gulf Stream and it is NOT an indication that our northern waters are so polluted now we're growing stuff to kill folks!
Of all the blooms that occur, only a small number are harmful to higher life forms such as zooplankton, shellfish, fish, birds, marine animals or humans who eat those things. The only harmful blooms are the ones which produce neurotoxins.
If anyone else is interested, you can visit the HAB web page and see a map depicting the various types of blooms and where they occur around the US.
Merme
I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to answer your question sooner about "Red Water" but I've been busy. I did want to take a second and answer you today though because you were given wrong information in a different post.
"Red Water" or "Red Tide" is NOT pollution. It is, in fact, a misnomoer for a naturally occuring event that has nothing to do with tides and is often not even red!
Scientists perfer the phrase HAB meaning Harmful Algal Blooms but popular social phrases die hard at times, don't they?
What HAB has to do with is microscopic single cell plants that live in the sea. Most species of algae or phytoplankton are NOT harmful to man or beast. They are, in fact, at the very base of the food chain without which higher life wouldn't exist. These species have lived in the oceans for millions of years and again, are NOT pollution.
Occasionally, factors come together to cause one species or another to grow very fast or "bloom" into a dense, visible to the naked eye patch on the surface of the water. When this happens with a species that contains a reddish pigment, it can make the water seem red.
Scientists have been tracking the various forms of HAB around the globe for a long time and noticing how they are affected by things such as hurricanes rather than any man made phenomena or human ocean usage. A large bloom was carried into New England by the Gulf Stream and it is NOT an indication that our northern waters are so polluted now we're growing stuff to kill folks!
Of all the blooms that occur, only a small number are harmful to higher life forms such as zooplankton, shellfish, fish, birds, marine animals or humans who eat those things. The only harmful blooms are the ones which produce neurotoxins.
If anyone else is interested, you can visit the HAB web page and see a map depicting the various types of blooms and where they occur around the US.
Merme
I can't imagine trying to eat three bites of it........Yuck!
duckie
I can't really go in the ocean unless its at least 80 out though >.< I don't hold body heat too well, being so tiny, so ya, its very easy for me to become a Phoebsicle o.O