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Red Tide Status Update: 1/17/25

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Over the past week, red tide was detected in 60 samples collected from Southwest Florida. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in 12 samples: two from Manatee County, one from Sarasota County, two from Charlotte County, four from and offshore of Lee County, and three offshore of Collier County.

Satellite chlorophyll imagery (USF, NOAA NCCOS) continues to vary from day to day, when not obscured by cloud cover as it has been for Southwest Florida over the past few days. Earlier in the week, a contiguous, low-intensity patch was located 3 to 10 miles offshore of Charlotte to Collier counties. Samples from the edge of this offshore patch confirmed the presence of K. brevis at bloom concentrations.

A series of smaller, more diffuse patches were observed approximately 20 miles west of Monroe County and 13 miles north of the Florida Keys, and we will continue to track this as cloud-free satellite data becomes available.

Additional details are provided below.

  • In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background to low concentrations in Pinellas County, low concentrations in Hillsborough County, very low to medium concentrations in Manatee County, background to medium concentrations in Sarasota County, medium and high concentrations in Charlotte County, background to high concentrations in and offshore of Lee County, background to medium concentrations in and offshore of Collier County, and background and very low concentrations offshore of Monroe County.
  • In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was not observed.
  • Along the Florida East Coast over the past week, K. brevis was not observed.

Fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were reported to FWC’s Fish Kill Hotline and other partners over the past week for Southwest Florida (Sarasota, Lee, Collier, and Monroe counties).

Respiratory Irritation suspected to be related to red tide was reported over the past week in Southwest Florida (Sarasota, Lee, Collier, and Monroe counties). For forecasts that use FWC and partner data, please visit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Gulf of Mexico Harmful Algal Blooms Forecast.

Forecasts by the USF-FWC Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides for Pinellas County to northern Monroe County predict variable movement of surface and subsurface waters over the next 3.5 days.

The next status report will be issued on Wednesday, January 22. Please check our daily sampling map, which can be accessed via the online status report on our Red Tide Current Status page. For more information on algal blooms and water quality, please visit Protecting Florida Together.

This information, including maps and reports with additional details, is also available on the FWRI Red Tide website. The website also provides links to additional information related to the topic of Florida red tide including satellite imagery, experimental red tide forecasts, shellfish harvesting areas, the FWC Fish Kill Hotline, the Florida Poison Information Center (to report human health effects related to exposure to red tide), and other wildlife related hotlines.

To learn more about various organisms that have been known to cause algal blooms in Florida waters, see the FWRI Red Tide Flickr page. Archived status maps can also be found on Flickr.       

The FWRI HAB group in conjunction with Mote Marine Laboratory now have a facebook page.  Please like our page and learn interesting facts concerning red tide and other harmful algal blooms in Florida.

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