Red Tide Turns Southland Surf Dirty by Day, Iridescent by Night

By day, it’s a smelly, brown mess that turns the surf hazy, dirty and dull. But by night, it’s an underwater light show, turning waves into swirling blue-green clouds and the foam into shimmering stardust.

It’s the red tide--an unusual blossoming of tiny seagoing organisms--and for the last several weeks Los Angeles and most of Southern California have been experiencing one of the largest and longest-lasting of these blooms in years.

And it’s everywhere--in the waves off Malibu, in the Venice canals and in Long Beach Harbor, where boaters say the water now looks like liquid chocolate.

“It’s not a health hazard, but it doesn’t smell real good,” said Jim Poulgarides, senior ocean lifeguard with the Los Angeles County Department of Lifeguards in Venice.

And after dark, he says, “It’s really weird to look at.”

Caused by the massive buildup of one- or two-cell floating plants, called phytoplankton, red tides generally occur in the spring or summer months but can happen any time. This one, experts say, was probably precipitated by the runoff of various soil nutrients into the ocean after the major storms earlier this year.

“Usually the blooms are brief and patchy,” said Greg Langlois, a senior public health biologist with the state Department of Health Services, which has been monitoring red tides for the past three years. But the current red tide is stretched over several hundred miles of coast from Point Conception to San Diego.

Although no official red tide records exist, Langlois said, this one is the thickest and longest-lasting in at least 10 years.

When the tide--variously described as the color of iced tea or rust--appeared in January, many thought it was just lingering muddy runoff from the heavy January rains. But it didn’t go away even when the rains did.

“It’s an unusual event,” said David Parker, a senior biologist with the California Department of Fish and Game in Long Beach. “I can remember some that were intense, but none that encompassed this large a geographic area.”

Scientists attribute the characteristic brownish-red tinge--giving the tide its name--to the color of the millions of these microscopic plants per liter of water. The nighttime luminescence, they say, probably results from a chemical reaction in each cell giving off a minute amount of light which, when multiplied by the millions, becomes visible to the naked eye.

Despite the daytime odor and appearance, some die-hard beach-goers brave the mess anyway.

“If the surf is good, surfers will surf,” said lifeguard Poulgarides.

“It doesn’t keep me out of the water,” confirmed Jay Wagner, owner of Zuma Jay’s Surf Shop in Malibu. “It’s an irritant. It’s more scratchy to your eyes than regular saltwater,” he said. But with some precautions, Wagner said, he considers it safe to hit the waves. “I put hydrogen peroxide in my ears, and I spit a lot.”

State and local health officials agree that the threat is mostly psychological.

Toby Staheli, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, said officials have issued no warnings about health hazards from the red tide and have not received any reports of illness associated with it. The health department is, however, issuing its standard warning to avoid coastal areas near storm drains after the heavy rains expected this week.

But the red tide is taking a toll on some.

Fishermen report that it is ruining the good winter season in Santa Monica Bay.

“Once it started, it really took the bite off the halibut,” said Mike Silva of Redondo Sportfishing.

Silva said skippers are reporting fewer bait fish in the area, and the murky conditions make it harder for sport fish to see the bait being used.

But what’s worse, he said, is the effect on fishermen when they look down at the mess. “It’s so damn discouraging,” said Silva. “It looks like someone dumped coffee in the water.”

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Some red tides can poison shellfish and make them toxic to humans, Langlois said, but the current condition is the result of a common organism--called Gonyaulax polyedra-- not known to be toxic.

The microscopic plant can, however, cause large fish kills by using up the oxygen required by the fish, he said. Fish caught during the tide are not considered unhealthful to eat, officials said.

These kinds of concerns, however, tend to fade after dark.

At night landlubbers and ocean lovers alike find themselves drawn to the light shows at the beaches to stare at breaking waves that look like fire, footprints in the mud that glow in the dark and fish that seem to leave ghostlike trails of light in the rolling surf.

Ken Plumb, out rowing with a friend near Seal Beach this week, saw what he described as “fireflies in the water” every time his oar broke the surface. “It was pretty incredible,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Becky Luth, who takes weekly ocean samples for the state Department of Health Services, discovered the net she had used was still glowing. “It was beautiful,” she said. “It was spectacular.”

Even on shore, the tide can have a magical effect.

Walking along the beach one night this week, Venice surfer Matthew Borland said the sand he kicked up “turned into slow green glow.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Red Tide Rising Drifting masses of seagoing microorganisms called a red tide are blooming off the Southern California coast as a result of heavy rain this winter followed by warm, sunny days. The single- celled organisms, a type of phytoplankton that comprise the tide4, cast a red sheen on the water by day and a blue- green glow by night. *

How the phenomenon occurs: 1. Rain washes nutrients into ocean. 2. Storms churn ocean, bringing nutrients to the surface. 3. Calmer waters and intense sunshine promote phytoplankton growth. Source: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Researched by CAROLINE LEMKE / Los Angeles Times