SOMETHING IN THE WATER

BLURRING THE WATER

     (Naples Fl)  Normally the water on the Gulf Coast Beaches is crystal clear this time

of year, but something is afoul.

      As you can see, the azure blue fades to a kind of tea color near the shore.  This is 

not normal.

        The murky, tea color is the result of an outbreak of two forms of algae-a dinoflagellate and a diatom.  On the northern beaches of Collier County it has resulted
in a fish kill.  In these waters, further south, it has merely turned the crystal clear to a kind of muddy murk.

      Though not as clear as normal, it is not so cloudy that you can not see the ray lurking

in the shallow water.  It is still clear, but has gained a kind of tea color.

      It poses no health problems, other than to some species of fish because the algae chokes the oxygen out of the water.  It is another one of those natural mysteries-no one is sure why it develops, where it comes from or when it will leave.  So much for being masters of nature huh?

      It is not so bad as to ruin a day at the beach-but it is a hitch.

      See you down the trail.