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Karenia brevis

This photo may be reproduced with proper attribution to T. Villareal, Univ. of Texas

This website is a rapid update site for the latest information on red tide counts at the Marine Science Institute, The University of Texas at Austin. The institute is located at Port Aransas, Texas. Counts are from the pier lab located in the ship channel adjacent to the facility.

PDF file on Karenia brevis put out by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute

Cell count data from the UTMSI Pier Lab

Public Health Information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Shellfish bed closures call 1-800-685-0361. Most shellfish beds are currently closed due to seasonal restrictions unrelated to the red tide.

Current conditions at Pt. Aransas

TABS buoy site: current wind and current conditions offshore

Historical bloom locations

Report a fish kill: email

This project and website is supported by the friendly folks at NOAA through the MERHAB program. If it has been useful to you, send an email here. Any opinions expressed here are mine, not NOAA's.

 

Red Tide in Texas (this site contains information for the entire Texas coast provided by numerous State, Academic and private sources).

Other Red Tide links

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Karenia blog -red tide is gone, discontinued on 26 Oct. 2006

ARCHIVED MATERIAL TO 4 OCTOBER 2006

16 October 2006. 11:15. The cell count this morning in the channel was 0 cells per ml. Karenia may still be out there, but it is at low concentrations. This windy, blustery weather is predicted to last a few days, so it is likely that the red tide blooms will be dispersed in the Gulf. With any luck, this will be the end of the this bloom. As you can see, the offshore conditions are mixing things up pretty well. The planned research cruise to go out and confirm the predictions of the NOAA HAB bulletin has been cancelled.

17 October 2006. 10:15 am. Cell counts are back up at 41 cells per ml. This is still below fish-killing densities, but may be enought start some respiratory irritation in sensitive people. The clouds are scattered today, so we should have a NOAA HAB bulletin out later and may be able to get some good imagery. From the buoy data, it is pretty clear that the downcoast currents (black arrows) are still moving very fast as a result of the winds during the past few days. The offshore seas are 9-10 feet (very unpleasant), so the potential for heavy surf and resulting aerosol is high. The light onshore winds will carry it onto the beaches, so we will know later today where the bloom has gone. The Corpus Christi paper had pictures of red water at Bob Hall Pier on Sunday, so the bloom was still hanging together this weekend.

18 October 2006. 1:45 pm. Cells are still present in the ship channel. There were reports of a fish kill on Mustang Island although it is not quite clear where the kill occurred. The high surf has hampered efforts to evaluate the fish kill. At the National Seashore, park rangers are no longer patrolling the beach due to all the flat tires from the hardhead spines. How do you figure this into an economic assessement of red tide effects?

The visible imagery shows a dark blob of water along the shore of Padre Island, but the heavy surf really makes it difficult to say with any certainty that this is the main part of the bloom. It is consistent with the general current flow seen in the TABS data. What is most curious is the significant change in color seen towards the bottom of the image about 1/2 between Pt. Manfield and Pt. Isabel. It sure looks like the dark water is displaced offshore by the more aqua colored water. There have been no reports from South Padre Island of red tide cells.14:00. Cell counts were 46 cells per ml.

19 October 2006. 10:00 am. There are zero cells per ml in the ship channel and no reports of aerosol in the area that I know about. The strong north winds continue to create southward flowing currents and it seems likely that the red tide will not be a problem on the Gulf side for a few days. I have no reports this morning concerning red tide in the bays.

20 October 2006. 1:55 pm. It's a clear blue sky in Pt. A. Karenia counts showed 0 per ml for my counts at 12:30, Cammee Hyatt got 8 cells per ml a little bit later as the tide ebbed and brought bay water to the pier. TPWD continues to report high levels from various places in the bay systems, particularly near Corpus Christi. Highest counts (>1000 cells per ml) were found near Portland and there was an active fish kill in the Corpus Christi ship channel and another one near Ward Island (next to TAMU, Corpus Christi). No red tide has been found along Padre Island south of the Pt. Mansfield pass jetties. The clouds did not allow satellite pictures yesterday, but I expect today's imagery to be pretty good. The currents continue to carry water south. Some of the interesting nuances of the Texas shelf can be seen in the TABS data. Buoy K is actually showing northward flow, so whatever is in that water is heading north.

 

26 October 2006. 11:00 a.m. There are few reports of any Karenia related activity in the past several days. Cell counts in the channel are low (0-1 cells per ml) and no reports of dead fish or respiratory irritation. So, unless something new happens, there will be no further reports on this site.

 

-Tracy