LACKEY, JAMES B., and K. A. CLENDEN- 

 NING. 

 1963. A possible fish-killing yellow tide in 

 California waters. Quart. J. Fla. Acad. 

 Sci. 26(3):263-268. 



During the sunnmer of 1961, Gym- 

 nodinium flavoim, a pale yellow dino- 

 flagellate about 40 microns indiameter, 

 was abundant in San Diego waters, 

 reaching a maximunn of 1,776 per ml, 

 in one sample. It is suspected of caus- 

 ing small fish kills in Mission Bay. 



LACKEY, JAMES B., and JACQUELINE A. 



HYNES. 



1955. The Florida Gulf coast red tide. 



Fla. Eng. Ind. Exp. Sta., Coll. Eng., 



Eng. Progr. Univ. Fla. (9(2):l-23), Bull. 



70, 23 p. 



The report contains a sketch of G. 

 breve and the following description of 

 the organisnn: 



"The organism is somewhat discoid 

 in outline, having a transverse groove 

 or girdle, and an indentation or sulcus 

 fronn this girdle to the posterior body 

 edge, so the body is divided roughly 

 into four quadrants on its ventral sur- 

 face. At the upper end is a small pro- 

 tuberance or nipplelike projection. The 

 sulcus actually extends to the apical 

 end of this nipple, but this can usually 

 be determined only with the oil imnner- 

 sion objective, at about 930x. There is 

 no shell or armor as in some other 

 dinoflagellates. The width is about 30 

 microns, and the length about 25. There 

 are approximately 22 discoid chromato- 

 phores (chlorophyll-containing struc- 

 tures) which appear pale yellow-brown 

 in transmitted light. Dense swarnns of 

 the organisms appear reddish-brown in 

 reflected light. The nucleus is typically 

 large and, as in all dinoflagellate nuclei, 

 it shows closely packed threads in a 

 spiral or parallel arrangennent. This is 

 so characteristic, and dinoflagellate 

 nuclei are so resistant to disintegration, 

 as to greatly facilitate identification. In 

 the catenate (chain-forming) Cochlo- 

 dinium, formalin used for preservation 

 disrupts the cells, but the nuclei still 

 stand out and remain connected by 

 amorphous remains of the cells. Some- 

 times a few brevis are similarly dis- 

 rupted, but the persistent nuclei and 

 chromatophores are diagnostic. The cell 

 contents are clear and finely granular, 

 except that several round refractive 

 bodies may be present. No ingested food 

 has ever been seen, and the organism 

 probably lives holophytically, i.e,, like 

 a green plant, although it is believed 



able to assimilate sonne dissolved or- 

 ganic matter, [p, 6.] 



"The only observed method of repro- 

 duction is by binary fission. Under opti- 

 mum conditions several divisions may 

 occur in 24 hours, so that bloonns are 

 easily accounted for. In general, the 

 behavior of this species corresponds to 

 that of dinoflagellates as a whole, but 

 its effects have made it infannous. 

 [p. b.] 



"There have also been rumors of 

 enteric troubles due to eating shellfish 

 from a Red Tide infected area. This 

 point of human illness is emphasized 

 by La Cossitt (5) in a popular journal, 

 but it should be stressed that there has 

 been no definite tracing of any human 

 illness to brevis , and there has been no 

 widespread illness when the Tide was 

 present. The county health officers of 

 the affected area have reported no health 

 troubles fronn it. Dr. Wright, of Sarasota 

 County, personally obtained clams dug 

 in a heavily infested area, and bacterio- 

 logical examination of them by a trained 

 shellfish bacteriologist showed nothing 

 unusual. It should be pointed out that 

 Hornell (loc. cit.) says the people along 

 the Indian Malabar coast harvest and 

 eat the fish killed by their Red Tide. 

 No toxic effects like those due to 

 Gonyaulax on the California coast have 

 been demonstrated. Quite respectable 

 strings of sheepshead and other fish 

 have been caught in waters containing 

 up to 100,000 brevis per liter. These 

 were eaten with no untoward effects 

 whatever. Nevertheless, publicity in 

 newspapers and nationally circulated 

 magazines concerning actual damage 

 plus rumored effects has tended to 

 magnify conditions and probably has 

 further contributed to financial loss in 

 the area." [p. 6.] 



The authors said that estimates of 

 fish kills are difficult. They believed 

 that despite the numbers of dead fish 

 observed, the percentage of kill was 

 low. They stated, ". . . Schools of fin- 

 gerlings have been observed in the very 

 shallowest inshore waters where there 

 was a heavy kill a few hundred yards 

 away. The upper part of Tampa and 

 Hillsborough bays was not invaded by 

 the Tide in 1953-54, and at least some 

 large fish were present there. It was 

 also observed that while a bad outbreak 

 with attendant fish nnortality nnight be 

 in progress at one point, a few miles 

 away one would find sports fishing and 

 bathing going on as usual, and no scar- 

 city of mullet for cut bait. At the time 



46 



