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Sunday, November 30, 1997

Red tide may be moving north

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) -- Hundreds of dead mullet washing up along Corpus Christi Beach may have been the victims of a fresh bloom of red tide working its way north, some marine scientists suspect.

Red tide also was suspected in the deaths of an estimated 6 million bay anchovies in Corpus Christi Bay near Flour Bluff last week, said Terry Whitledge of the University of Texas Marine Science Center in Port Aransas.

"That"s our best guess right now. It"s still a little bit open, but I"d say we"re pretty sure," Whitledge told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, adding that sample collected over the weekend were to be analyzed during the week.

Corpus Christi City Manager Bill Hennings said city parks crews would try assessing the size of the kill Saturday and, if necessary, call in workers to pick up the fish.

Most of the dead fish began washing up after 6 p.m. Thursday along Corpus Christi Beach. Some dead fish also were found on beaches along Shoreline Drive.

"I"ve never seen so many dead fish out here as this," said Roel Rivilla, who fished off a jetty on Corpus Christi Beach. "We"ve been out since about 6 this morning and haven"t caught a thing."

Amber Rose, fishing with Rivilla, said that even if she caught a fish from the bay, she wouldn"t eat it.

"I"d throw it back," she said. "There"s something in that water."

Whitledge, however, said any live fish caught likely would be safe to eat.

Red tide is a bloom of a microscopic algae that is always present in the water but is fatal to fish in heavy concentrations.

Tony Amos, an oceanographer with the UT Marine Science Center, said no one is really sure what causes the red tide algae to bloom to toxic levels.

The toxins created by the algae attack the nervous system of fish. But only infected clams, mussels and oysters are unsafe for human consumption. Eating them can cause nausea, dizziness, tingling sensations in the extremities and dilated pupils. Illness can last several days but is not usually fatal. Airborne toxins caused by red tide also can cause nose, throat and eye irritations.

More than 14 million fish already have died since red tide developed off the Texas coast in September.

An outbreak of red tide last year prompted health officials to ban commercial oyster harvesting for several months, creating economic hardships in coastal towns that depend on the business.