SMITH, F. G. WALTON.

1949. Probable fundamental causes of red tide off the west coast of Florida. Quart. J. Fla. Acad. Sci. 11(1):1-6.

The theory is advanced that the redtide blooms must depend upon unusual amounts of phosphorus. The origin of such phosphorus could be deposits in river drainages or offshore deposits but the manner of dispersal remains a mystery deserving investigation.

SMITH, F. G. WALTON.

1954. Emergency report on the Florida red tide, January 1954. Univ. Miami, Mar. Lab., Rep. to Fla. State Bd. Conserv., Tech. Rep. 54-2, 4 p.

This report summarizes the status of red-tide research by the Marine Laboratory as of January 1954. It names Gymnodinium brevis as the causative organism of the Florida red tide, and says that red tide occurs sporadically; damage to commercial fisheries in a bad red-tide year exceeds $1 million; Gymnodinium brevis releases fishkilling poisons into the water; phosphorus compounds are necessary for plankton growth; other factors besides phosphorus are necessary for the red tide; attempts to establish correlations with meteorological phenomena were unsuccessful; and laboratory culturing of Gymnodinium provided information on special nutrient requirements.

The author believed that destruction of the bloom serves little purpose and that the only solution is the prevention of blooming.

A 2-year program at a cost of $72,000 per year is outlined to ensure successful prediction, prevention, and control of red-tide blooms. This program entails:

"(a) Full-time year-round oceano graphic investigation of the chemical and physical changes of the West Coast waters.

"(b) Multiple statistical correlation of outbreaks with meteorological and other ambient phenomena.

"(c) Tropistic and nutritional laboratory studies of the causative organism." [p. 4.]

The author stated that the greatest success will be obtained by providing adequate funds which "should be concentrated in one locality or organization, equipped with proper laboratory facilities and oceanographic vessels, and with personnel experienced in the Red Tide problem." [p. 4.]

SMITH, F. G. WALTON. 1957. Mystery of the red tide. Smithsonian Inst., Annu. Rep. for 1957:371-380.

This is a semipopular article without documentation, apparently largely a reprint from Sea Frontiers 3(1):21-31. Some of the illustrations appeared in Galtsoff (1949).

On page 373 it mentions "as many as 60,000,000 individual cells to the pint of water" but we are sure this is merely an error in transposing a liter into an English equivalent.

"... Since 1947 red tide seemed to have disappeared and there was no way of telling whether it might return in 1 year or 10 years... [p. 376.]

"These

expectations were partly realized in 1952 when a fresh but minor outbreak occurred. About the middle of September 1953 further red tide was reported and this continued at intervals throughout the winter and in the spring and summer of 1954. The new alarms brought special funds to aid research at Miami and increased federal activity. The State of Florida made a wise move by setting up a RedTide Committee in order to coordinate research activities. . . .

"Materials are needed for the growth of 'Jim brevis' and the suspicion that the brackish bay waters contained some essential part of these materials received new attention as the result of work carried out by the Haskins Laboratory in New York. For the first time the red-tide type of organism was kept alive in the laboratory in a pure culture, uncontaminated by bacteria or other organisms. . . ." [p. 377.] (Reviewers' note: These were dinoflagellates other than G. breve, which was first cultured in a pure state at Galveston by the Fish and Wildlife Service.)

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. . . after taking meteorological figures for 26 past years and performing numerous calculations with different combinations of the data, a formula emerged which worked. The weather information for any year was placed into the formula. When the numerical result fell within a certain narrow range, then a red-tide outbreak happened during the next 12 months. If outside the range, there was no red tide.

". . . In November 1955 the State Board of Conservation in Florida was notified that there was little likelihood of major red-tide outbreaks in the year

Toxin was prepared from cultures of 1.5 million living cells of G. breve (at a pH of 8.15, salinity 33 p.p.t., 7 weeks old) frozen overnight in flasks, thawed at room temperature (25+ 2° C.) and filtered through an AA millipore filter. Dilutions were made with seawater medium of 33 p.p.t., pH of 7.9.

Preliminary experiments with guppies and mullet indicated that living cultures of G. breve were less toxic than killed ones. The toxin preparation was tested on mullet at several dilutions and the results were shown in a curve. If we interpret his curve in numbers of G. breve per liter needed (when killed) to produce the effect, the results are approximately:

Residues (cell debris) left on AA millipore filters contained little or no toxicity. Heat had an effect on toxicity of the cell-free toxin preparation. When heated and cooled immediately in an ice bath, little toxicity was lost from heating to 80° C., but most of the toxicity was lost from heating to 100° C.

Heating over longer periods destroyed toxicity at lower temperatures. Thus, most of the toxicity was lost by heating to 45° C. for 4 hours, and no toxicity was detected after heating to 100° C. for 5 minutes.

Toxicity of living unialgal cultures was increased by pH of 8.1 (5-weeksold culture, salinity 30 p.p.t., 1.2 million per liter) being changed by adding 5N HC1 or 5N NaOH to the media. At pH 3.3, 5.4, and 9.5, G. breve were destroyed and toxicity was, thus, increased. Changes in pH of cell-free toxin had little or no effect on toxicity. Adding sufficient heavy metals to kill G. breve increased the toxicity of unialgal cultures.

STOHLER, R.

1960. Fluctuations in mollusk populations after a red tide in the Estero de Punta Banda, Lower California, Mexico. Veliger 3(1):23-28. [Cited from Biol. Abstr.]

A collection of mollusks made during the peak of a red tide in 1958 was compared with collections made in July

1959 and January 1960. It was concluded that neither red tide nor seasonal variations could be held responsible for the fluctuations observed in sizes and occurrence of specimens.

STOMMEL, HENRY.

1949. Trajectories of small bodies sinking slowly through convection cells. J. Mar. Res. 8(1):24-29. [Cited by Ryther, 1955.]

Explanation of the accumulation of floating objects in windrows parallel to the wind direction by wind-driven convection cells.

STREETS, THOS. H.

1878. The discolored waters of the Gulf of California. Amer. Natur. 12(1):85-90.

STRODT MANN, S.

1898. Ueber die vermeinte Schädlichkeit der Wasserblüte. Forschungsber. Biol. Sta. Plon. 6(9):206-212.

SWEENEY, BEATRICE MARCY. 1951. Culture of the dinoflagellate Gymnodinium with soil extract. Amer. J. Bot. 38(9):669-677.

Soil extracts have been widely successful in promoting the culture of organisms difficult to grow in inorganic media. The active principle in soil extract according to Pringsheim (E. G. Pringsheim, 1936, Das Ratsel der Erdabkochung. Beih. Bot. Centralblatt A55:101-121) in experiments using Chlorogonium, Polytoma, Polytomella, and Chilomonas is an acid- and alkalinestable organic substance, insoluble in alcohol and ether, adsorbed by charcoal, and destroyed by hydrogen peroxide.

Gymnodinium splendens was cultured in several media, usually in inorganic media with organic additives. No inorganic additives aided growth. Soil extract promoted growth. The soil extract was made from redistilled water and garden soil, which was autoclaved, decanted after standing overnight, and reautoclaved. Although presumably bacteria-free, the soil extract was of little or no avail when first prepared; it reached a peak of activity (in promoting growth) in 4-6 weeks and declined in activity after about 80 days. Activity of soil extract was not retained by reautoclaving or by refrigeration at 4° C. Deep freezing at -25° C. preserved activity for 6 months. Trials of additions of several different amino acids, yeast extract, oak leaf mold extracts, etc., were unsuccessful.

The only other active principle came from cells of another dinoflagellate, Prorocentrum micans, also grown in 4 percent soil extract.

SWEENEY, BEATRICE M.

1954. Gymnodinium splendens, a marine dinoflagellate requiring vitamin B12. Amer. J. Bot. 41(10):821-824.

SWEENEY, BEATRICE M., and J. WOODLAND HASTINGS.

1958. Rhythmic cell division in populations of Gonyaulax polyedra. J. Protozool. 5(3):217-224.

"In cultures of the marine dinoflagellate Gonyaulax polyedra grown with alternating light and dark periods of 12 hours each, at least 85% of all cell divisions which occur in a day take place during a 5-hour period spanning the end of the dark period and the beginning of the light period. A very distinct maximum in the number of recently divided cells occurs at about the time the light period begins.

"This diurnal periodicity in cell division is lost after 4 to 6 days in continuous bright light, but will persist for at least 14 days in continuous dim light. The period of approximately 24 hours under constant conditions is only slightly altered by varying light intensity and temperature, both of which factors are known to affect markedly the generation time. The time at which cell division occurs is therefore postulated to be controlled by some sort of rhythmic or clock mechanism.

"Similarities between the cell division rhythm and the endogenous rhythm of luminescence in this organism are discussed. The occurrence of a glow, or steady light emission of low intensity, at about the time of cell division, is described, and it is suggested that this glow may result from cellular changes accompanying certain stages of cell division." [p. 217.]

TABB, DURBIN C., and DAVID L. DUBROW. 1962. Hydrographic data, Supplement I, from the inshore bays and estuaries of Everglades National Park, Florida, 1959-1962. Univ. Miami, Mar. Lab., Rep. to Fla. State Bd. Conserv. 62-9, 22 p.

Includes temperatures, salinity, oxygen, and pH.

TABB, DURBIN, DAVID DUBROW, and RAYMOND MANNING.

1959. Hydrographic data from the inshore bays and estuaries of Everglades National Park, Florida, 1957-1959. Univ.

Miami, Mar. Lab., Rep. to Fla. State Bd. Conserv. 59-5, 26 p.

TAYLOR, HARDEN F.

1917a. A mortality of fishes on the west coast of Florida. Science 45(1163):367368. [Cited from Gunter, 1947.]

TAYLOR, HARDEN F.

1917b. Mortality of fishes on the west coast of Florida. Rep. U.S. Comm. Fish. for 1917, append. 3, 24 p. (Doc. 848.)

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The reports and references are too fragmentary to give an accurate record. . . but collectively they clearly indicate that all the keys from Key West nearly as far north as Cedar Keys have been visited by this plague, and that it occurred in the years 1844, 1854, 1878, 1880, 1882, 1883, 1908, and finally in 1916.

"In October and November, 1916, the mortality recurred in severe form, the first visitation since 1908. ...

"Fishes of a great number of species were noted dead and dying; the air was charged with a suffocating gas, which . . . irritated the air passages, producing the symptoms of colds. This gas, while exceedingly irritating, had no odor. ... The abnormal conditions seemed to be moving southward, occurring at Boca Grande on October 3 and 18, at Captiva Pass about the middle of October, at Blind Pass about October 20, at San Carlos Pass about November 1, and dead fish were first seen at Big Marco Pass on November 5. Captiva Pass is 7.5 statute miles south of Boca Grande Pass; the others are, respectively, 16.5, 27.75, and 67.75 miles to the south of Boca Grande Pass.... dead fish were seen as far south as Cape Romano. ... The death of two persons in Fort Myers, Fla., in November, was attributed to the eating of some of these dead fish." [p. 5-6.]

He quoted a letter from the deputy collector of customs at Boca Grande stating that the dead fish started to come ashore on October 3. In a few days the plague abated, but another violent outbreak occurred on the 18th, killing larger fish and many of the bay fishes. The gas was worse, and many people asked for medical assistance.

Taylor listed 63 species of fish killed and sea urchins (Arbacia), horseshoe crabs, and sponges. He said barnacles, oysters, and mussels were in good condition, live conchs and hermit crabs were observed repeatedly, porpoises were plentiful, and pelicans and

"In 1953, Red Tide organisms at the Galveston Laboratory were first cultivated artificially. . . ." [p. 6.]

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI, MARINE LABORATORY.

1954. Red tide studies, January to June 1954. Prelim. Rep. to Fla. State Bd. Conserv. 54-19, 117 p.

This report covers many aspects of red-tide research carried out by the Marine Laboratory, but also summarizes research by other agencies, without specifically mentioning under whose auspices the work was accomplished. Despite an occasional reference to an outside author, there is no bibliography or list of references cited. Because of this lack of documentation and a list of 19 personnel (total of only 866 man days, including boat operations), the report is clearly intended (as the title indicates) as merely a progress report. It is stated that, "This report is a preliminary account of the results. Because of the emergency nature of the Red Tide problem, and, in order that the data may become immediately available to other workers in the field, it has been prepared for a restricted distribution without the careful evaluation normally given to scientific reports. For this reason it is in many ways incomplete and all discussions and conclusions must be considered as tentative in nature, subject to re-evaluation as the data receives more careful scrutiny." [p. 3.]

The report starts with a summary: "4. In the course of the work a survey was made of the scientific literature concerning plankton blooms throughout the world." [p. 1.] This survey has not been published.

"'5. ... The initial series of fish kills constituting a Red Tide cycle were found to occur most frequently in the month of October and within the dates of the new moon plus or minus three days." [p. 1.] This conclusion is not accepted by us as having been proved.

"A cycle or series of outbreaks is mostly likely to occur when the annual rainfall of the Peace River drainage area is above the fifty year average. A correlation also exists between outbreaks and a high maximum annual discharge of the Peace River." [p. 1.] No actual statistical analysis is shown, and the best example shown of high rainfall, in 1947, gives a false impression since the 1947 outbreak really started in November 1946, after a long