caused by eating shellfish. The Florida 

 State Board of Health made bioassays 

 for toxicity on shellfish san-iples for 

 several southwest coastal counties. 

 Since May 1963 the Florida State Board 

 of Conservation has been identifying 

 and counting phytoplankton in water 

 samples collected from the sanae areas 

 as the shellfish samples. 



Since May 1963 the U.S. Public Health 

 Service Laboratory (Dauphin Island) has 

 been collecting shellfish samples from 

 the St. Petersburg-Sarasota area for 

 bioassay of toxicity. Since September 

 1963 regular shellfish samples have 

 been taken in Lemon Bay, 



"From the beginning many workers 

 have considered that shellfish toxicity 

 was casually [sic] related to the occur- 

 rence of Red Tide. The work so far 

 has shown no results that are contra- 

 dictory to this relation. In fact, many 

 of the results suggest that the relation 

 is true. However, rigorous proof of 

 the Red Tide organism as the cause 

 of shellfish toxicity remains to be 

 demonstrated." [p, 7.] 



GUNTER, GORDON. 



1947. Catastrophism in the sea and its 

 paleontological significance, with 

 special reference to the Gulf of Mexico. 

 Amer. J, Sci, 245(11 ):669-676, 



". , , In connection with a heavy fish 

 mortality on the Texas Coast, Lund 

 (1936) called attention to the possible 

 similarity of the case of Jordan's (1921 ) 

 description of 'A Miocene Catas- 

 trophe,' ... [p. 669-670,] 



"Mass mortalities of marine animals 

 on the west Florida Coast have been 

 reported by Pierce (1883), Taylor (1917) 

 and Gunter, Williams, Davis and Smith 

 (1947), According to Taylor (1917) this 

 phenomenon has been reported since 

 1844. It came again in 1946 and 1947. 

 It has appeared on the average of 

 10.4 years since 1 844 with skips ranging 

 from one to thirty years. Occurrences 

 in consecutive years such as 1883-84 

 and 1946-47, are continuations of the 

 same outbreak. . . ." [p. 673.] 



GUNTER, GORDON, 



1949. The "red tide" and the Florida fish- 

 eries. Proc. Gulf Carib. Fish. Inst., 

 Inaugural Sess.:31-32. 



GUNTER, GORDON. 



1952. The import of catastrophic mortalities 

 for marine fisheries along the Texas 

 coast. J. Wildl. Manage. l6(l):63-69. 



"In the summer of 1935 a very heavy 

 mortality of marine fishes and other 

 animals occurred in the Gulf of Mexico 

 and extended for a distance of 250 

 miles from the Rio Grande northward. 

 A few fishes were killed in the lower 

 bays but practically all of the mortality 

 was confined to the Gulf, The amount 

 of destruction was undetermined, but 

 it was certainly enormous and ran into 

 many million pounds. Since that time 

 there was one other occurrence of 

 this phenomenon in the fall of 1948. 

 It occurred along the southern tip of 

 the coast and was more localized. . . ." 

 [p. 65,] 



GUNTER, GORDON, F. G. WALTON SMITH, 

 and ROBERT H, WILLIAMS. 



1947, Mass mortality of marine animals 

 on the lower west coast of Florida, 

 November 1946- January 1947. Science 

 105(2723):256.257. 



Dead fish were reported from Dry 

 Tortugas to Boca Grande (130 miles). 

 At Fort Myers dead fish exceeded 

 170 per foot of shoreline on January 19. 

 Total number of dead fish was esti- 

 mated at 50 million. Also killed were 

 oysters, clams, crabs, shrimp, barna- 

 cles, and coquinas. The clam industry 

 at Marco, 50 miles south of Fort Myers 

 was not involved. Despite an isolated 

 report of dead fish from a vessel 

 passing Dry Tortugas, mortality did 

 not appear to reach the Keys, A patch 

 of vivid yellow water south of Useppa 

 Island on January 28, consisted alnnost 

 exclusively of Gymnodinium sp. with a 

 mixture of numerous larval inverte- 

 brates. The water was viscid and slimy, 

 having the consistency of diluted syrup. 

 The oxygen was low, 33 percent satu- 

 rated. Irritating gas from breaking surf 

 occurred January 22-26 on Captiva 

 Island. 



GUNTER, GORDON, ROBERT H. WILLIAMS, 

 CHARLES C, DAVIS, and F. G. WALTON 

 SMITH, 



1948, Catastrophic mass mortality of ma- 

 rine animals and coincident phyto- 

 plankton bloom on the west coast of 

 Florida, November 1946 to August 1947, 

 Ecol, Monogr. 1 8(3):309-334, 



The mortality was first noticed No- 

 vember 20, 1946, 14 miles offshore 

 from Naples, It spread as far north as 

 Boca Grande Pass. According to all 

 reports, no mass mortality occurred 

 north of Pine Island Sound. Mortality 

 occurred southward definitely as far as 

 Cape Romano. On January 19 the captain 



39 



