Marine Laboratory of the University 

 of Miami established that the fish mor- 

 tality and the irritant gas associated 

 with it were due to a plankton 

 bloom. . . ." Woodcock (1948), from the 

 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 

 established this connection between red 

 tide and the irritant gas carried as an 

 aerosol. 



On page 7 it is stated, "The theory of 

 submarine springs as a possible indirect 

 cause for the Red Tide has been tested; 

 however, the results, so far, seem to 

 show that this explanation is not cor- 

 rect." There is no explanation of what 

 "test" was applied. 



"The annual phosphate production 

 (land pebbles) statistics were studied. 

 No correlation was found between year 

 to year fluctuations in the phosphate 

 production and the outbreaks of Red 

 Tide." No data are presented. 



". . . By means of the method of least 

 squares it was found that the total phos- 

 phorus content in the Peace River water 

 is around 31 and in the Caloosahatchee 

 River around 6 microgram atoms/ 

 L. . . ." The "method of least squares" 

 is a method usually used for curve 

 fitting and can hardly have a bearing 

 on calculation of a mean value. Graham 

 et al. (1954) obtained average total 

 phosphorous values of 12.0 amd 2.6 

 ug.at./l. for the Peace and Caloosa- 

 hatchee Rivers. On page 23 of the Ma- 

 rine Laboratory report it is stated that 

 out of 22 stations on the Peace River, the 

 maxinnum amount of total phosphorus 

 was close to 32 ug.at./l., near phos- 

 phate quarries. It would appear that the 

 average derived by "least squares" of 

 31 ug.at./l. is unrealistic. 



About 4 pages of the report list notes 

 on red-tide outbreaks chronologically 

 from September 1952 through July 1 954. 

 On September 24, 1953 is the cryptic 

 note, "Tried CUSO4." 



The report does not give the tech- 

 nique used for counting G. breve in 

 the samples. However, we believe that 

 their counts are far too high. For in- 

 stance, they stated on p. 73, ". . . With 

 one exception, no discoloration was 

 found in which less than 15,000,000 

 cells/L. occurred. . . ." This was en- 

 tirely at variance with our experience 

 during the 1957 outbreak, when it was 

 easily possible to guide spray planes 

 onto patches of red tide containing only 

 a few million cells per liter. 



". . . What appeared to be resting 

 stages of G. brevis were found in salt 

 water muds. These clearly resembled 

 the forms which appear when G. brevis 

 is partly dessicated. Attempts to con- 



vert the suspected forms to the identi- 

 fiable motile stage were unsuccessful. 



"It was frequently noted that even 

 when no other orgamism was present, a 

 bloom of G. brevis contained large 

 numbers of the copepods Acartia 



sp. . . ." [p. 74.] 



UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI, MARINE LABORA- 

 TORY. 

 196 la. A report of data obtained in Florida 

 Straits and off the west coast of Florida, 

 January- June I960. Rep. to Off. Nav. 

 Res., Tech. Rep. 6I-I, 189 p. 



A report containing raw hydrographic 

 data obtained in an area north of Key 

 West from Cape Sable to Dry Tortugas 

 (January-June, 1960). 



UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI. MARINE LABORA- 

 TORY. 

 1961b. A report of data obtained in Florida 

 Straits and off the west coast of Florida, 

 July-December I960. Rep. to Off. Nav. 

 Res., Tech. Rep. 61-3, 109 p. 



A report containing raw hydrographic 

 data obtained in an area north of Key 

 West from Cape Sable to Dry Tortugas 

 (July-December, I960). 



UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI, MARINE LABORA- 

 TORY. 

 1962a.. A report of data obtained in Florida 

 Straits amd off the west coast of Florida 

 (January- June 1961). Rep. to Off. Nav. 

 Res., Tech. Rep. 62-4, 200 p. 



A report containing raw hydrographic 

 data obtained in an area north of Key 

 West from Cape Sable to Dry Tortugas 

 (January-June, 1961). 



UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI, MARINE LABORA- 

 TORY. 

 1962b. A report of data obtained in Florida 

 Straits and off the west coast of Florida, 

 July-December 1961. Rep. to Off. Nav. 

 Res., Tech. Rep. 62-6, 108 p. 



VEENHUYZEN, J. C. 



1879. Communication: 

 erythraeum. Natuurk. 



Trichodesmium 



Tijdschr. Ned. 



Indie 38:150-151. [Cited from Fish and 

 Cobb. Non vidi.] 



WALKER, S. T. 



1884. Fish mortality in the Gulf of Mexico. 

 Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 6:105-109. 



On November 20, 1880, he sailed 

 south through Boca Ciega Bay and 

 encountered the first dead fish near 

 Bird Key, a little southeast of Pass 

 A'Trilla. On attempting to land on the 

 extreme point of Point Pinellas he was 



71 



