Florida Red Tide Solutions

In general I beleive that breeding one species of life to control another is usually a bad idea. But the typical human in me always asks “what could be the harm?” usually I come with an answer, right away. For instance - the greatest harm is usually the new species becomes a problem!

Several times in the past has this very situation been brought about by humans., However many times things work out just fine. Like those bacteria they put in septic tanks. Works fine. When the source of food is gone, the bacteria die off.

Red Tide is made of of small “dinoflagellates” - which are microscopic algae with a primitive tail for movement. What if there was a naturally occurring predator of this algae and nothing else? Would breeding large amounts of this predator and releasing them on an unsuspecting red tide bloom be a valid way of mitigating a red tide bloom?

Well there is just such an animal! It’s a dinoflagellate as well. A parasitic dinoflagellate known as Amoebophyra. It feeds on other “blooming” algaes including toxic ones like red tide. There has been some study on this organism and it has been shown to reduce red tide blooms naturally.

Here’s a quote from a study the Smothstonian Instituition published titled: “INTERPLAY BETWEEN DINOFLAGELLATE TOXINS, MEMBRANE STEROL COMPOSITION, AND PARASITISM BY AMOEBOPHRYA”

“Parasitic dinoflagellates of the genus Amoebophrya infect many bloom-forming dinoflagellates, including several toxic species. These parasites can spread rapidly through host populations and have been linked to the decline of red tides. The fate of host toxins during bloom decline caused by parasitism is unknown. Equally unresolved is the performance of parasites in host strains that differ in toxin content. The ichthyotoxic dinoflagellate Karlodinium veneficum produces karlotoxins (KmTX) that permeabilize cell membranes, resulting in cell death through osmotic lysis.”

A more detailed abstract is available at their web site here.

Research this subject more throughly.

And please if you do, perhaps you could write an article about for our readers?