Current conditions

The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists in Southwest Florida. Over the past week, K. brevis was detected in 30 samples. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in one Lee County sample. Recent satellite imagery (2/9; NOAA, USF) indicates the presence of patches of chlorophyll along and offshore of Lee, Collier, and Monroe counties. Additional details are provided below.

• In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background to medium concentrations in and offshore of Lee County (in 18 samples), background to low concentrations in and offshore of Collier County (in 11 samples), and background concentrations offshore of Monroe County (in one sample). Samples from Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties did not contain red tide.
• In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was not observed.

No fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were reported this past week. For more details, please visit the FWC's research page on fish kills.

Respiratory irritation was reported over the past week in Southwest Florida in Lee and Collier counties. For current conditions, please visit the Beach Conditions Reporting System page..

Forecasts by the USF-FWC Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides for Pinellas to northern Monroe counties predict net northwestern transport of surface waters and minimal net movement of subsurface waters in most areas over the next four days.

The next complete status report will be issued on Friday, February 12th. Please check the daily sampling map, which can be accessed via the online status report on the Red Tide Current Status page. For more information on algal blooms and water quality, please visit Protecting Florida Together.

This information, including maps and reports with additional details, is also available on the FWRI Red Tide website. The website also provides links to additional information related to the topic of Florida red tide including satellite imagery, experimental red tide forecasts, shellfish harvesting areas, the FWC Fish Kill Hotline, the Florida Poison Information Center (to report human health effects related to exposure to red tide), and other wildlife-related hotlines.

To learn more about various organisms that have been known to cause algal blooms in Florida waters, see the FWRI Red Tide Flickr page. Archived status maps can also be found on Flickr.

The FWRI HAB group in conjunction with Mote Marine Laboratory now has a Facebook page. Please like their page and learn interesting facts concerning red tide and other harmful algal blooms in Florida.