Articles Contained in SIRS Enduring Issues 2006. Originally Published: Toxic Surfs, July 23, 2005; pp. 56-58.
"On a warm, sunny day, you hear the presence of a 'red tide' of toxic algae on popular Florida beaches, says Barbara Kirkpatrick. It's not the roar of coastal waves or the gurgle of flowing water, she explains, but 'one continuous cough,' as thousands of sunbathers and swimmers respond to airborne irritants that the algae expel in the surf. Kirkpatrick, manager of environmental health at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla., heard the sound last February [2005] when she visited Siesta Key Beach. Southwest Florida was in the throes of a red tide--in this case, a misnomer because the alga causing it, Karenia brevis, turns water yellow-green. Some traditional signs of the bloom were in evidence on beaches and in canals. Most obviously, manatees were dying." (SCIENCE NEWS) This article explains how red tide affects people and marine life.