The seawater monitoring program carried out at the Center for Coastal Research, in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University Costa of the University of Guadalajara, has confirmed that red tide has been present in the Bay of Banderas for the last 13 years.
María del Carmen Cortés Lara, a research professor reported that, according to studies, the colors of the tide in algae blooms can range from very intense red, which is the most common, to white and green. Although there is also brown or orange.
The important thing is that the toxicity is not related to coloration because they can be abundant species in the sea, and they are practically colorless. In this sense, Cortés Lara explained the reason for the presence of algae blooms.
“Any species can be considered as a recurrent organism, and within its life cycle, it forms cysts, which are not in a position to develop and grow in the water column, so they end up in the sediment. But in the face of tidal waves, hurricanes, or tropical storms, the sediment is removed and the cysts return to the water column. Which allows the algal bloom to form again,” she explained.
Faced with this constant scenario, CUCosta researchers make recommendations to fishermen to be careful with the “red tide” when catching fish. While divers are advised not to go into the sea when they see an algae bloom to avoid dermatitis.
At the end of August and beginning of September, a “reddish” coloration was registered in Los Arcos de Mismaloya and Yelapa, which attracted a lot of attention from nautical tourism service providers and visitors.
“It was caused by a dinoflagellate microorganism, called margalefidinium, and it is estimated to be a toxic organism; but fortunately it did not cause fish mortality; nor intoxicated people”, commented Dr. Carmen Cortés.
