As the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists in Southwest Florida, SCCF staff will continue monitoring its potential impact on sea life.
In the past week, SCCF documented two dead sea turtles that had washed ashore: one Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) and one loggerhead (Caretta caretta). The loggerhead showed evidence of predation. There were no evident signs of injury on the Kemp’s ridley, which is a critically endangered species.
The Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) reports admitting 20 new avian patients in the past week–12 died and CROW continues nurturing the remaining double-crested cormorants, royal terns, and one great egret. SCCF staff undertaking the statewide winter Shorebird Survey along the four-and-a-half-mile stretch between the Sanibel Lighthouse to Tarpon Bay encountered a few royal terns that were separated from their flock and appeared not to be flying well. They also observed accumulations of dead sea life, with the heaviest concentrations at the Lighthouse and between Sundial and Gulfside City Park, as pictured here.
It is not known whether red tide played a role in the Kemp’s ridley’s death or how it impacted the sick birds. SCCF Marine Laboratory Director Eric Milbrandt said that patches of blooms have been difficult to interpret on satellite imagery due to the dense fog and high winds, which resuspends sediments. “Along the beaches, the counts are low or absent. The patches tend to get driven deeper by downwelling when winds are more westerly from the fronts.”