1911] Kofoid: The Genus Gomjaulax. 243 



at different points along the coast, being especially marked off 

 La Jolla, Point 8an Juan, Newport, and San Pedro. This irreg- 

 ularity may be due to the configuration of the coast and of the 

 bottom, especially to the sunken valleys which may serve as con- 

 duits for upwelling waters. It is quite possible that the local 

 and periodical enrichment of coastal waters by the nitrogen-bear- 

 ing waters from the depths along the coasts of California, is one 

 of the primary causes for the occurrence of these outbreaks of 

 "red water" and in part for the irregularities of their appear- 

 ance and inequalities in their local distribution. 



This species upon stimulation by the movement of the water 

 as in the breakers along shore, or in the path of a moving fish, 

 gives forth a brilliant greenish-blue tiash of phosphorescence of 

 an instant's duration, which bathes the breakers or white caps 

 in a foam of fire, and outlines the path of fishes, seals and por- 

 poises or the wake of a steamer with a luminous trail which 

 lingers for some seconds, or even minutes, as the motion of the 

 water dies down. 



The decay of countless millions of these organisms in the 

 water and upon the beaches where they are continually stranded 

 by the receding waves, creates a nauseous and penetrating stench 

 of most disagreeable nature. The products of decay (and meta- 

 bolism ?) of these organisms are toxic to many marine organisms, 

 which die in great numbers (see text figure E) and are cast up 

 by the tide upon the beaches. 



Not all organisms are equally affected (See Torrey, 1902), 

 by these adverse conditions but mainly bottom forms which can- 

 not retreat into places of safety, such as the holothurians, sipun- 

 culids and bpttom-feeding fish, such as the sting ray {Urolophus 

 halleri) and guitar fish {Rhinobatis product us) and littoral 

 crustaceans, such as Hippa analoga and Cancer antennarius. The 

 organisms of the plankton, both large and small, and the widely 

 ranging fishes, seem not to be affected adversely, at least to a 

 fatal degree. It is obvious that the bottom-dwelling forms would 

 be overwhelmed by the accumulation upon the bottom in shal- 

 lower waters of organic debris from the excessive development of 

 the plankton of the "red water," principally Gomjaulax poly- 



