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Red tides also known as harmful algal blooms, HAB for short, are a toxic, single celled algae called photoplankton. This organism produces a toxin that affects the central nervous system of fish so that they are paralyzed and can't breathe. As a result, red tide ....

Middle of Essay
.... This makes a red tide very hard to predict or find. Red tides often occur when fresh water runoff creates a stratified surface layer above colder nutrient-rich waters. "heavy rains might have helped the red tides develop by pouring fresh water and nutrients into surrounding sea waters," (New York Times: Sept. 19, 1996) Fast growing algae quickly strip away nutrients in the upper layer, leaving nitrogen and phosphorus only below the interface of the layers, called the pycnocline. Many swim at speeds of 10 meters a day, and some go through vertical migration rising to the top of the water to get sun and then swimming down to the pycnocline to take u ....