months showed that usually the linear correla- 

 tion was slightly negative but not statistically 

 significant. 



Although many chemical characteristics have 

 been or could be measured, temperature, 

 salinity, and winds will always be important 

 factors in the development of bloom conditions. 



RED-TIDE RESEARCH AT THE FLORIDA 

 STATE LABORATORY 



By Robert M. Ingle 



Florida Board of Conservation, 

 St. Petersburg, Fla, 



Research of previous years greatly facili- 

 tates our present work, and previously estab- 

 lished knowledge is used frequently. Several 

 research projects are now in progress at the 

 Florida Marine Laboratory. In addition, re- 

 search on the use of G. breve as a bioassay 

 organism is being carried out at Florida State 

 University. Emphasis is on culture techniques 

 and water chemistry. It has become apparent 

 that iron and a chelator provide the most de- 

 pendable supplennents which can be added to 

 water to stimulate growth of the organism. 



In past outbreaks of red tide, no blooms 

 were observed along the west coast of Florida 

 north of Clearwater. Recently, however, a 

 bloom in north Florida resulted in a wide- 

 spread fish kill. Red tide was found as far 

 offshore as 78 miles, and such fishes as sail- 

 fish ( Istiophorus albicans ) were killed by it. 



One project, which includes a literature 

 search, deals with seasonal succession of 

 phytoplankton. To approach this problem on a 

 long-term basis, a series of publications called 

 "Leaflets" was started that will result even- 

 tually in a handbook on phytoplankton. Taxo- 

 nomic and ecological aspects of phytoplankton 

 in coastal waters of west Florida are con- 

 sidered in these papers. 



The Laboratory's research is designed to 

 discover the properties in water that are unique 

 in this area and related to red tide. The coin- 

 cidence of red tide and the rich phosphate beds 

 in this area has always been a source of sus- 

 picion, although evidence is good that phosphate 

 is not limiting to G. breve bloonns along the 

 Florida coast. It has been concluded that 

 dinoflagellates generally grow best in water 

 depleted of nutrients. Since nitrogen is appar- 

 ently no particular problem, research has 

 turned to some of the other well-known needs 

 of the organism. Iron is one that seems to be 

 mentioned most widely in the worldwide litera- 

 ture on red-tide field and laboratory studies. 

 A literature search revealed that dissolved 

 iron content has been studied in the Peace 

 River in southwest Florida for about 40 years. 

 This river carries tremendous quantities of 

 iron and is acid. Tannic acid, humic acid, and 



related products are very common in the 

 streams of the area. The quantity of iron de- 

 livered to the Gulf from the Peace River 

 increases during floods. It appears that bogs, 

 which are notorious accumulators of iron, are 

 shut off from streams during dry periods, and 

 that heavy concentrations of iron are leached 

 or washed out by rising rivers which flood the 

 bogs. 



Two aspects of the recent occurrence of red 

 tide in north Florida were fortunate: the mas- 

 sive outbreak was so far from land that it 

 caused no hysteria, and it enabled us to examine 

 red tide in a different situation and to estab- 

 lish some common denominators. 



Over a period of time, it is hoped that nutri- 

 tional needs can be defined for the most com- 

 mon phytoplankters, so that the presence of 

 chemical constituents can be deduced when a 

 particular organism is found to be veryprom- 

 inent. If these organisms can ever be shown 

 to be precursors of the red-tide bloom, it 

 might be possible to shed some light on the 

 nutritional needs of G. breve . 



Another project of our Laboratory concerns 

 the bioassay of vitannin B12. A statistical 

 method has been developed which appears 

 dependable and which may demonstrate that 

 the concentration of B12 in the water is being 

 accurately measured. 



In our bacteriological studies, plans are to 

 determine whether or not identifiable living 

 precursors of red tide are in the water and, 

 if so, what are they producing that helps 

 develop a bloom. Flavobacterium concentrates 

 in tremendous numbers during red-tide out- 

 breaks, but is not necessarily a factor in red- 

 tide mortalities. The bacterial flora from the 

 southern part of the range during times of low 

 incidence of G. breve has a considerable 

 variety of species. 



FIELD AND LABORATORY WORK IN 



PROGRESS AT THE FLORIDA STATE 



LABORATORY 



By Members of Florida Board of Conservation 

 St. Petersburg, Fla. 



Richard P. Saunders andKaren A. Steidinger 

 presented the following report (abstracted) on 

 current research in Florida. 



Regular sampling along the west coast of 

 Florida from Hillsborough to Collier Counties 

 began December 1963. Nine stations were 

 sampled at weekly intervals for phytoplankton 

 and hydrographic data. Samples were collected 

 monthly at 1 1 other stations in the same general 

 area to record distribution of bacteria and 

 phytoplankton and to determine concentrations 

 of vitamin B 12, amino acids, hydrogen sulphide, 

 iron, and carbohydrates. Bioassays were also 

 run with G. breve as the assay organism. Other 



