COUNTS OF RED TIDE ORGANISMS, Gymnodinium breve, 

 AND ASSOCIATED OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA FROM 

 FLORIDA WEST COAST, 1957-59 



by 



Alexander Dragovich and John H. Finucane 



Fishery Research Biologists 



and 



Billie Z. May, Analytical Chemist 



Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 



U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service 



Galveston, Texas 



ABSTRACT 



This report consists of oceanographic data and counts 

 of the red tide organisms, Gymnodinium breve, for the 

 period from July 1957 to January I960. Methods of col- 

 lecting and analyzing samples are described. Data on 

 water temperature, water transparency, cloud amount, 

 salinity, copper, inorganic phosphate, total phosphorus, and 

 nitrate -nitrite nitrogen are presented. These data were 

 collected as part of a study on the distribution and incidence 

 of G. breve and related ecological conditions and extend the 

 records reported in a previous paper from 1954 to I960. 



INTRODUCTION 



This presents counts of the red 



tide organism Gymnodinium breve 



Davis with associated oceanographic 

 data. It is the fourth report on field 

 studies of the Florida red tide by the 

 U. S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. 

 The first two reports were by Graham, 

 Amison, and Marvin (1954) and Marvin 

 (1955a). The third report by Finucane 

 and Dragovich (1959) described the 

 background and objectives of the present 

 red tide investigations and recorded 

 counts of G. breve and associated oce- 

 anographic data from 1954 to 1957. The 

 purpose of these four publications, 

 covering collections from 1949 to 1952 

 and from 1954 through 1959, istomake 

 the basic data available. 



Most of the earlier publications 

 dealing with the red tide phenomenon 



in Florida waters are listed by Hutton 

 (1956). Ingle et al . (1959), Bein (1957), 

 and University of Miami 1 represent 

 more recent reports. 



This report consists of two parts. 

 Part I includes data from 81 stations 

 (figs. 1-5, pages 9-11) within the 10- 

 fathom curve extending from Anclote 

 Key to Florida Bay. The data in Part 

 II were obtained from 3 8 stations (figs 

 6 and 7, page 105) located in Tampa Bay, 

 adjacent rivers and neritic waters ex- 

 tending to the 20 -fathom line. 



The collection of data presented in 

 Part II was initiated after a careful 

 review of past red tide investigations 



1 Red tide studies, final report. Marine Laboratory. 

 University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, 1957, 14 pp. 

 (Report to the Florida State Board of Conservation, 57- 

 1S, unpublished.) 



