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Red tide may have killed 97 dolphins
The Ledger (The Associated Press)
28th March 2004
Red tide is suspected in a Panhandle bottlenose dolphin die off that has killed 97 of the marine mammals.
Two more dolphins washed ashore Friday on Rosemary Beach and in St. Joe Bay. All the dolphins have washed up between Franklin and Santa Rosa counties.
Officials think red tide or a related biotoxin is to blame, although scientists have yet to make a final determination.
Red tide is a toxic alga bloom known to kill sea life. Test results returned recently from samples of fish carcasses in the area also show evidence of red tide, officials said.
A similar dolphin die-off between 1999 and 2000 also totalled about 100 and remains under investigation. The National Marine Fisheries Service Web site reports that a harmful algae bloom is suspected to be the cause of that die-off.
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