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William West / AFP - Getty Images
A swimmer stops short of a red algae bloom at Sydney's Clovelly Beach on Tuesday. Clovelly and Bondi beaches were closed to swimmers.
Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach and Clovelly Beach were closed to swimmers on Tuesday as a red algae bloom drifted close to shore, Agence France-Presse reports.
While the red algae, known as Noctiluca scintillans or sea sparkle, has no toxic effects, people are still advised to avoid swimming in areas with discolored water because the algae, which can be high in ammonia, can cause skin irritation.
"It has got quite a fishy smell to it," lifeguard Bruce Hopkins told the Australian Associated Press. "It can irritate some people's skin but generally not much more than that."
William West / AFP - Getty Images
A boy walks along Sydney's Clovelly Beach on Tuesday.
William West / AFP - Getty Images
A seagull stands in a red algae bloom at Sydney's Clovelly Beach on Tuesday.
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Giant floating swarms of red algae have appeared in Sydney, Australia, forcing authorities to close some beaches. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
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Is this the doing of Moses?
I hear that red marine algae is used as a "cure" for herpes among other natural ingredients. There are very good uses for algae, and to know that it is a natural occurrence means, that particular area of the ocean is probably fairly healthy.
It is one of the signs God sent to the richest most powerful nation on earth that they were about to be humbled. Just because an event can be explained scientificaly doesn't mean it's not an act of God. If you think God is happy with the way things are you don't know the scriptures. Joke if you will but the last laugh will be his, not yours.
Since when is Australia "the richest most powerful nation on earth"??
I imagine G-d might be saying something like this;
" Here's the deal... If you can't stop destroying this beautiful planet I loaned you, I'll give nature a few ways to evict you. Stupid people tearing up the place like rock stars at a Holiday Inn"
Hey dude !
Look out behind you ! The blob is coming for you !
G'day !
Y'all stock up on your allergy meds over there. It can affect your breathing even if you don't go in the water. And make you itch alot. Gulf Coast resident.
So one of the seven signs the world is coming to an end was just a bunch of red algae..................WTH, where's the river of blood.........................
In other countries red algae (Noctiluca scintillans) is called Scarlet Fever Algae. It is phosphorescant at night (Hound of Baskerville) and contains ammonia which might irritate one's skin. It has washed away now from Bondi Beach. Video+ pictures (worth seeing) at http://www.smh.com.au/environment/bondi-beach-reopens-as-algae-that-turned-the-water-red-disappears-20121127-2a5fh.html
Coming soon to a beach near you, or worse....................... unless people start becoming stewards of Mother Earth. And yes I do believe in Global Climate Change so let's hear it deniers, tear me apart. ROFL, prove to me with your BuyBull that this is just Gawds will.
^ Hipster alert.
Red tides are a natural occurrence. I grew up on the Gulf of Mexico and know these pretty well. I know the dangers of Global warming and support fighting it, but this isn't it. Hysteria and misplaced preaching that will come from this, won't help.
No this is not "it" but what next will mother nature throw our way, that's the point. How futile man's response will be if we can't even defeat a simple algae bloom that just "happens" to be non toxic.
why would you need to "defeat" a non toxic algea bloom anyway?
Ok this happens every year in Fl. This is not the end of the world or some warning from mother nature that we are destroying our Earth. It causes skin irritation and respiratory issues. I do not have asthma or allergies but I usually get a nasty cough when I'm near the beach.
I believe in the climate change as well. It has warmed up and cooled down quite a few times over the last several billion years. We may be in a warming phase right now, but it is not as warm as the geologic record shows the earth was before. And I am not saying human interaction does not play a part in it either, but there are far more terrible things humans are doing such as raw waste and pollutants being dumped in the oceans continuously, using phosphate detergents and lawn fertilizer. All these things contribute to the problems with poor water quality
When this happened in Cleveland, the river caught on fire. It cannot be global warming, or can it?
There's a difference between pollution and algae.
The Cuyahoga River was once one of the most polluted rivers in the United States as represented by the multitude of times it has caught fire, a recorded number of thirteen starting in 1868. The most potent blaze occurred in 1952 which caused over $1.3 million in damages however, the most fatal fire happened in 1912 with a documented five deaths. The 1969 fire, which did not incur maximum damages or fatally wound any citizen, was the most covered incident occuring on the river.
Nothing to do with algae at all. Please, people. Education does not hurt.
Sam Adams - the pollution has caused the global warming, which facilitates the opportunistic overgrowth of microrganisms. There's a distinction, but more importantly, there's causation and interplay within the ecosystem.
im not sure I have ever heard of algae being flammable, in fact the bottle from GNC does not have a warning. Just saying. I do not think these are related incidents. The rivers along the east coast are horrible polluted with chemicals you wouldn't even believe would be allowed to even exist. Your local EPA would have the details for you.
Certain algaes are used to make fuel....just saying
I is the sign of the time as the scripture for told us in the last day before Christ returned to the it happen in china this year twotake some time and read Matthew 24 this one of Christ prophecy The sign of the end
"The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died."
Uh, Oh! The Myans were right! It's already starting!
December 21, 2012.
Can I have your car and bank account?
Got any cute daughters who don't want to die virgins?
Lol god is such a jokester!
hahahaha at least the post was funny
Red tide i believe has something to do with the second angel pouring his vial on the seas what will we do when all rivers, seas and lakes become red tide and mankind can not eat from the waters any longer goodbye sea food restaurants.It may be the the gods are really pissed at us.
I get my seafood at Red Lobster.
You're quoting a verse from a Judeo-Christian document. Pretty sure the Mayans were neither....
Hey Dave, I need another flat screen. Can ya mail that to me on the 20th?
I can't decide whether to have my end of the world party on the 21st or the 20th.
"Mother Earth"? It has been "Uncle Nature" from Day-1.
And soon there will be hurricanes reaching as far as Newfoundland due to the warming of the oceans. When will humanity learn that our would is not infinite, we must stop killing our environment.
its too late.
Yep, the tipping point is way behind us tracontech. Now watcha gonna do?
Satan juice!
Nibiru's coming on 12/21/12- another sign!!
get your tinfoil hats shaped up and head for the hills!!!
OMG-This is the first article I read that someone didn't blame Obama for this, or ObamaCare. Finally, some witty and educated comments.
They're waiting for the "It's Bush's Fault" crowd to wake up before they begin their daily dose of mudslinging.
yeah, its nice isnt it. No mention of government in this article. phew, its so peaceful here, I might just hang out all day.
I agree with the idea that we really must stop polluting our earth. Signs such as endocrine disruption, fertility problems, etc are signs of how man has effected the natural world. An average water sample from the average river in the U.S. can reveal some scary results. The average man and woman is too busy trying to keep their house and food on the table. At the same time we (myself included) stumble through the day unknowingly polluting and leaving residue of the modern world. For the sake of seven generations to come I hope we are not too smart too late. The pollution types that are happening in third world countries can be traced and found on each of the poles. I think the red algae bloom is the least of our worries, it's the pollution that we can't see that is really going to bite us in the ass. Thats why we have an expanding "Dead Zone" in the Mississippi gulf region. Heck of a deal for sure. Mita-kuya-oyasin, We are all related.
much of what your describing is (imo) due to plastics metabolizing into hormones....I do not use a microwave and I only use glass to cook in. Tephlon can kill you in one little flake...
most of what you are describing can be prevented by responsible parents and avoiding certain plastics and other stuff...especially those with inconsistencies, cracks, and melting. And its probably a good idea not to shoot your old cell phone and then run over and inspect the hole while the battery is smoking in your face...<--i did that...my life is shorter for sure
You know how to make a hormone? Twist her nipples.
You may be right about the plastics use, but I'd definitely not cut out rubber. We don't need anymore boneheads running around
Dump some bleach on it and see the reaction...
Did someone over at NBC News just recently learn the word "iconic" or something? It's been used prominently in the headlines of at least three front page stories in the last few days. Or should I say "misused"? Good grief. You ask 100 people to name an icon of Sydney, I guarantee you, not one of them will say "a beach."
at least its not "epic" lol
And I thought we were the only ones bemoaning algae ...here on the Great Lakes (at least Lake Erie in parts) its green algae.
A little more information would have been useful, as the article seems to have inspired a lot of confusion.
For starters, this particular organism isn't dangerous.
This variety of "Red Tide" is very different from one caused by Karenia Brevis, which is also a large marine dynoflagellate that can produce huge red blooms.
Karenia Brevis is why we can't eat shellfish at certain times of the year- shellfish and other filter feeders eat them- and the brevitoxins they produce are stored in shellfish tissues at lethal concentrations (which often kill people who eat them).
The same toxins will result in huge fish kills which wash up on shores- sometimes removing the entire top of the food chain over wide areas.
There's one other clade which is also believed to be quite dangerous to both fish and people- which produces algal blooms that are not visible; those are known as Pfesteria
Algal blooms take place every spring and every fall due to natural marine upwellings that brings minerals and nutrients to the surface where plankton can assimilate them.
Plankton density is also why the sea changes color with the seasons.
Marine dynoflagellates in general often bloom when other marine organisms are doing well- providing an abundance of prey.
Even after most of the plankton they prey upon are reduced to concentrations too low to sustain a population explosion, the organism often endures because it is also photosynthetic- and can produce enough energy to survive from sunlight alone.
It's also responsible for eery displays of light in the waves after night falls.
When disturbed by sudden motions, it releases a flash of blue-green light. There's a site with some lovely shots of this effect- the link is http://www.gcb.vic.gov.au/noctiluca.html
Thanks, Fe, for the comprehensive info...photos are remarkable!
Correction: fatfinger strikes again; for anyone who cares, it's "Pfiesteria". And, you're very welcome. I learn a lot reading other people's posts- and I try to pay that forwards when I can.
How long does it last? Will the water ever go back to its original content?
Great question- blooms are generally seasonal, and rarely last more than a few weeks. One of the longer blooms recently studied was at Disko Bay in Greenland, and it lasted for six weeks. In some circumstances, blooms can last from early spring through the end of autumn- but generally only in areas shy of copepods and other small animals that eat algae. These "blooms" are pretty important to other species- because they are the bottom of the food chain, in this case, it's "as below, so above"- so the quality and quantity of the fish harvest is directly impacted by algae. See: http://www.ioccg.org/handbook/casestudy11_yaco_etal.pdf
It's a pretty dry read, but the pictures and the q+a at the bottom of the document are informative. To summarize (and this is a very narrow interpretation): It describes number-crunching satellite images to derive information about algae. It turns out that the colors- specifically, the colors associated with chlorophyll- which are reflected and absorbed by seawater can tell us a lot about what's living in it, and how dense that life is. The authors then take other empirical information on how well the young of a particular fish did over the same time frame and do a mashup with the idea of showing how one impacts the other.
Generally seasonal, but algal blooms are also affected by the addition of "nutrients", originating from human activities, that drain into waterways. These can range from organic (human/animal waste) to synthetic (artificial fertilizers, phosphates, etc). Continued pollution of our lakes, rivers, and oceans can increase the incidences of, as well as introduce into novel areas, these types of blooms. Although some blooms are relatively harmless to humans, these and many others are potentially harmful to organisms within or near marine habitats, resulting in dead zones for instance (areas depleted of oxygen), and disrupting otherwise normal ecosystems.
Mick's knife is the ONLY icon in OZ. :-)
3 The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.
4 The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5 Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:
“You are just in these judgments, O Holy One,
you who are and who were; Revelation 16:3-5
3 The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.
4 The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5 Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:
“You are just in these judgments, O Holy One,
you who are and who were; Revelation 16:35
Mark...revelations? Really? Next you'll be talking about intelligent design...one of my favorite oxymorons.
OMG - its is Revelations. Tebow, help us!
"global warming" and "climate change" are fact and reality. There is no honest denial, thus no discussion except what to do about it right now! We are 50 years late as it is!
Yep, it's real, it's here, it's irreversible, it's WAY beyond the tipping point...
We're all gonna die...oh the humanity!!!
Oh my; the signs are showing up one by one. Scary!
stop overreacting to everything natural! It's part of the natural cycle it doesn't mean anything to the end of the world or anything.
So thats where I left the filling for the Twinkies!
Originally, that filling was banana creme...so, wouldn't the water be yellow? I think you'd have a hard time swimming in that too- and I sure wouldn't want to drown in it. No...all things considered, death by custard would be far better...
It's a beautiful color red. Nature never ceases to amaze me.