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Red tide suspected in Panhandle dolphin deaths

The Associated Press State & Local Wire

December 17, 1999

DATELINE: FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla.

Red tide is suspected in the deaths of about 25 adult bottlenose dolphins in the Florida Panhandle since Dec. 2.

Three of the marine mammals washed ashore on Gulf of Mexico beaches but the rest have been found in Chochtawhatchee Bay through Thursday, said Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge coordinator George Gray.

Test results on the carcasses are not expected back from the National Marine Fisheries Service until after the first of the year, but red tide is the probable cause, said Glenn Butts, a biologist with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Red tide also was suspected in the deaths of about 70 dolphins on Florida's gulf coast earlier this year. The toxic algae blooms cause fish kills and respiratory problems in humans, although they are not life-threatening to people.

Outbreaks of red tide occurred during the summer and early fall in the Panhandle, southwest Florida and on the state's east coast. A portion of the Panhandle outbreak in the Gulf of Mexico has long since moved out of the area and dissipated.

The bloom, however, has remained in the bay and other protected waters in portions of Okaloosa, Walton and Santa Rosa counties because of unusually low rainfall and moderate temperatures, Butts said. The dolphin deaths have been reported in Okaloosa and Walton counties.

Scientists are unsure how red tide impacts dolphins but they suspect their respiratory and nervous systems, more efficient than those of other mammals, allow the toxin to permeate their bodies more easily.

Dolphins also probably are eating fish infected with red tide, Butts said.

"They're attracted to the stressed fish," he said. "They will eat those and they will get sick."