Harmful Algal Information System: Event US-94-014

General Information

Event name:	US-94-014
Country:	UNITED STATES
Nature of the harmful event:	Water Discoloration , Mass mortalities
Event directly affected:
Toxicity detected:	No
Associated syndrome:	OTHER
Unexplained toxicity:	No
Species implicated in toxin transmission (transvector):
Report the outcome of a monitoring programme:	Yes
Event occurred before in this location:	Yes (Previous bloom and fish kill very similar to the 1994 event reported in Harper, D.E. Jr. & G. Guillen. 1989. Occurrence of a dinoflagellate bloom associated with an influx of low salinity water at Galveston, Texas and coincident mortalities of demersal fish and benthic invertebrates. Contributions in Marine Science 31: 147-161.)
Individuals to contact:	DORTCH, Quay

Location & Date

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Location:	Latitude: , Longitude:
General location information:	, Louisiana. HAB Area code(s): US-17
Additional location information:	Louisiana shelf adjacent to Sabine Pass.
Bloom event dates (yyyy/mm/dd):	Event Date:1994-06-22 Start: 1994-06-22,
Quarantine levels dates (yyyy/mm/dd):
Additional date-related information:	22 June (may have been occurring for more than a month prior to this date).

Microalgae

Causative organism known:	Yes
Causative Species/Genus:	Gymnodinium sanguineum (5,400,000 cells/L)
Co-Ocurring Species/Genus:
Chlorophyll concentration, if known:	µg/l
Additional bloom information:	Surface water samples.
Event-related bibliography:	Marine Science 31: 147-161.

Environmental Conditions

Weather:		Turbidity (NTU):		Wind direction:
Stratified water:	No	Oxygen content (nL/L):		Wind velocity:
Temperature (°C):	29.8	Oxygen saturation %:		Current Direction:
Sechhi disk (m):		Salinity:	12	Current Velocity:	0

Nutrient information:

Temperature Range During Event:

Max: °C, Min: °C

Salinity Range During Event:

Bloom location in the water column:

Growth:

Growth Comments

Not known.

Additional Environmental information:

15.4 ppm .

Toxin Assay Information

Species containing the toxin

Toxin type

Toxin details

Max. concentration

Assay type

Kit used: No

Type of kit used:

Additional information:

Economic losses:

Management decision:

None in Louisiana. Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife collected samples for identification and environmental conditions and NOAA, NMFS held a workshop to consider relationship between algal bloom, fish kills, and turtle and marine mammal deaths.

Additional harmful effect information:

Effect: Discolored water. A fish kill in Louisiana waters was described by the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife, but there are no data from Louisiana monitoring agencies.