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red tide

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red tide: see Dinoflagellata dinoflagellata (dī'nōflăj'əlät`ə, –lā`tə)
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red tide

Discoloration of seawater caused by dinoflagellates during periodic blooms (population increases). Toxic substances released by these organisms into the water may be lethal to fish and other marine life, and they irritate the human respiratory system. Coastal resorts sometimes close when breaking waves release the toxic substances into the air. The causes of red tide are uncertain; it may require the confluence of several natural phenomena, in which human influence may or may not play a part.


red tide [′red ′tīd]
(biology)
A reddish discoloration of coastal surface waters due to concentrations of certain toxin-producing dinoflagellates. Also known as red water.


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III winds The hurricanes that struck Florida in the summer of 2004 may also have triggered an intense, widespread red tide that afflicted the state's west-central coast throughout 2005, scientists reported (169: 358).
Red tide may be a natural phenomena, but is exacerbated by the fertilizers which drain down the rivers from agricultural areas.
Red tide (Alexandrium fundyense) on the Cape and north as far as Isle au Haut in Maine played havoc with many of these filter feeders in 2005.
 
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