Take it away, NOAA:
A new study funded by NOAA and the National Science Foundation reveals that a part of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which separates Washington state from Canada’s British Columbia, is a potential “hot spot” for toxic harmful algal blooms affecting the Washington and British Columbia coasts.
Scientists concluded that under certain conditions, toxic algal cells from this offshore “initiation site” break off and are transported to nearshore areas, where they can trigger blooms that can ultimately force the closure of Washington state shellfish beds on beaches.
Students, scientists, and other seafaring dorks have been measuring toxic algae content all over the place and found “a circular water mass rotating approximately 30 miles off the northern coast of Washington” that is full of bad news.
It’s infested with Pseudo-nitzschia, which makes domoic acid, which concentrates in sardines and shellfish and kills pelicans.
On June 22, 2006, a California brown pelican, possibly under the influence of domoic acid, flew through the windshield of a car on the Pacific Coast Highway. The acid is found in the local seas.
Domoic acid poisoning, says Wikipedia, might also have caused the 1961 bird freak-out in which thousands of “frantic seabirds” invaded Santa Cruz, California. Which inspired this:
Domoic acid also causes amnesia and death in humans by turning calcium into your worst enemy:
In the brain, domoic acid especially damages the hippocampus and amygdaloid nucleus. It damages the neurons by activating AMPA and kainate receptors, causing an influx of calcium. Although calcium flowing into cells is a normal event, the uncontrolled increase of calcium causes the cell to degenerate.
Freezing or cooking does not lessen the toxicity.
Photo of toxic algae death-tides courtesy of NASA.
The Birds in 90 seconds and it’s 1.23 minutes long? No wonder there is a toxic algae bloom off the coast. No one knows how to count anymore.
Want to get high?
I say we nuke it from space. It’s the only way to be sure.
I kept reading it as “demonic” acid. (I think I had that trip in high school). I prefer my way.
oooooohhh!
pretty colors!
The birds in 5 seconds:
Alfred Hitchcock: I love blonde actresses, be in my movie at all costs.
Tippi Hedren: Ok, but I will never kiss you.
Alfred Hitchcock: I will pout all the way through then.
Tippi Hedren: I will now have a daughter who will marry a man who plays a Miami cop. She will have lego-surgery to take fat from her legs and use it for her face.
Alfred Hitchcock: The end.
Can’t they use all of those plastic bags from the big toxic grocery bag death tide vortex to just scoop it all up?
On a serious note – any connection to the highest cases of MS in Washington related to this in any way???
Wow, that’s really scary.
I wish there was a history brush for the Olympic Peninsula.
I grew up on the Bogachiel River and I have creepy dreams about it nearly every night.
Oh man, I’m doing my next nursing school project on this.
Blah, blah, blah, algae, blah
Wow. Every day the evidence mounts that the Earth would be way better off without humans screwing it up! 🙁 Sorry Earth. 🙁
how are we going to push this over to Canada?