Posted on 04/04/2013 11:52:07 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - A deadly algae bloom that killed a record number of manatees has dissipated, though the death toll for the endangered sea mammals continues to rise, Florida wildlife officials said on Thursday.
Red Tide has killed 241 manatees this year as of Wednesday, said Kevin Baxter, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida. The figure already surpasses the highest number of Red Tide manatee deaths on record in Florida - 151 in 1996.
This year's fatalities from Red Tide will likely continue into the spring because the algae bloom's deadly toxins have settled on the sea grasses that the manatees eat, Baxter said.
"In the past, when we've seen Red Tide-related deaths, they've continued on for a month or two after the Red Tide bloom is no longer detected," he said.
Naturally occurring algae sometimes grow out of control for unknown reasons, turning the water red and producing high concentrations of toxins that can harm people, fish, birds, sea mammals and shellfish.
This recent Red Tide bloom began last fall in the Gulf of Mexico in a 70-mile (113-km) swath of southwest Florida's coast from Sarasota County to Lee County - home to a large share of the state's estimated 5,000 manatees.
The toxins are usually inhaled by manatees when they come up for air, typically every 20 minutes. Because the toxins settled into the sea grasses, the manatees were ingesting them as well.
Inhaling or eating the toxins can spark seizures and paralyze the manatees, causing them to drown as they struggle to breathe or surface for air.
Meanwhile scientists are trying to discover the cause of the mysterious deaths of 85 manatees since July on Florida's Atlantic coast in the Indian River Lagoon in Brevard County, Baxter said.
(Excerpt) Read more at weather.yahoo.com ...
Roll Tide?
Oh the Hugh Manatee.
Seriesly? Gotta blame it on poultry producers. Almost worked for the Chesapeake, even though it had no basis in fact! Any chickens down there? Hey - “Cows vs Chickens?” - “Eat Mor Fish”? Anything but natural cycles. Could we confiscate all the outboards? No Wake Zones for migratory bird landings? Hell we gotta find SOMETHING! After all the Manatee is a bold, proud predator. A symbol of our national heritage!
Oh the Hugh-Manatee!
I guess liberals only believe in Darwin’s theory when it involves humans huh?
Nature does this people. over 75% of all animal extinctions happened before mankind walked the earth.
Let nature roll on. It’s natural.
99.9% of all species that have ever inhabited this planet are extinct.
Can we slice ‘em up, barbecue, and offer to the starving victims of the Baraqqi Depression?
PING for the Manateeeeeeeeeeeeess...
They said the red tide was due to peoples lawn fertilizer getting washed into the bay.
So they stopped us from buying fertilizer 5 months a year.
The EPA should sue the algae. Obama should make Algae illegal. Too bad he cannot make just Red Algae illegal, but that would be racist. Pelosi should command that all Manatees live, and Harry Ried should issue them all EBT’s as a minority.
Such is the foolishness of a Government of man.
When fertilizer is outlawed, only outlaws will fertilize....
we all need to die, it is for the better for the manatee.
the world would be better if these sea cows ruled mother earth.
“They said the red tide was due to peoples lawn fertilizer getting washed into the bay.”
“So they stopped us from buying fertilizer 5 months a year.”
Yes, yet they ignore the massive amounts of phosphates emptying into the gulf due increased corn production. “Ethenol” was a criminal idea.
Shaun Manatee?
Leni
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