Red algae-like substance in sea

[smurphy]

Hi All,

Paddling around Dalkey today there was a lot of this red algae-like substance in the water. And I do mean a lot. It seems to be everywhere, just more concentrated in by shore.

I say algae-like because it resembled the green stuff you get in stagnant ponds.

Anybody have any idea what this is? One thought was it could be red tide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_tide

Any thoughts?

I presume it\'s not something you\'d like to accidentally swallow.

Cheers,
Sarah.

P.S. Lots of jellyfish too.

[CarlFarmer]

Didn’t seem to bother the porpoises... There were at least four or five of them out today...



[img size=480]http://www.irishseakayakingassociation. ... resize.jpg[/img]



Carl.

:whistle:

[pbyrne]

Hi Sarah,

You are absolutely right. What we saw on Saturday was a bloom or \'red tide\' of Noctiluca scintilans, also known by the attractive name of seasparkle. You would have seen it phosphoresce if you had paddled at night! Collect some in a bucket and stir in the dark.

A single celled protozoan and a member of the dinoflagellate (two flagellae) order, it feeds by ingesting other microscopic organisms. Warm calm weather and an abundance of food enables populations to explode. Though non-toxic to humans they can be harmful to marine invertebrates as they can accumulate a lot of ammonia. It is very buoyant and collects on the surface of the water.


Check out:
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/ind ... nocti.html = shows image

‘Noctiluca scintillans is a strongly buoyant planktonic species common in neritic and coastal regions of the world. It is also bioluminescent in some parts of the world. This bloom-forming species is associated with fish and marine invertebrate mortality events. N. scintillans red tides frequently form in spring to summer in many parts of the world often resulting in a strong pinkish red or orange discoloration of the water (tomato-soup)’

http://www.nmnh.si.edu/botany/projects/ ... illans.htm

or google for more.

Patricia

[smurphy]

Cool, thanks Patricia. That\'s really interesting.

Cheers for the info,
Sarah.