Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Dead Fish in Redondo Beach (photo: Kannon King)
Researchers are continuing to search for the definitive cause of last week’s massive fish die off in King Harbor, located in Redondo Beach, south of Los Angeles.
At least a million sardines died from lack of oxygen, scientists have determined, after too many of them crowded into the harbor. But tests have also revealed the presence of domoic acid in the fishes’ stomachs, indicating they may have been consuming an algae bloom before dying. Such a bloom was discovered last Wednesday about 12 miles outside the harbor.
Domoic acid, a powerful neurotoxin, may have made it harder for the fish to cope with the oxygen deprivation, according to some experts, while others are trying to determine if the algae bloom was the true cause of death.
The toxin has been shown to cause neurological disorders, illnesses and even death in seabirds, sea lions, sea otters and whales. Humans consuming domoic acid in contaminated shellfish have developed a condition known as Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning, which can cause permanent loss of short-term memory.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Toxic Algae May Have Played Role in Huge Fish Die-Off (by Tony Barboza, Los Angeles Times)
In Redondo Beach, Dead Fish, Perhaps Millions of Them, Collect in King Harbor (by Scott Gold, Nate Jackson and Kenneth R. Weiss, Los Angeles Times)
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