The smelly reddish tint that the annual red tide brings has mercifully faded with a recent cold snap.
By Hans Laetz / Special to The Malibu Times
In the words of Lynyrd Skynyrd: “Ew, that smell.”
A sudden cold snap in the ocean waters off Malibu has brought a merciful end to what may have been the biggest and smelliest red tide in years.
“I’ve been here for 30 years, and that seems to be the biggest and thickest red tide I’ve ever seen,” said Los Angeles County Lifeguard Capt. Dan Atkins at Zuma Beach. “It just stayed and stayed and stayed.”
While the nasty red tide was obvious in the ocean, it also was noted in parking lots and homes downwind from the beach. One shopper at a Malibu Colony Center checkout line wrinkled her nose and said, “It smelled like someone left a wet bathing suit in a microwave oven.”
Biologists confirmed that a hyperactive crop of ocean-borne algae, commonly called a red tide, bloomed along the Malibu coast this summer. And while this specific variety of algae isn’t poisoning sea lions this time, it sure is leaving its mark in coastal noses.
Pepperdine University biology professor Karen Martin said it is likely that last year’s heavy rains washed an overload of nitrogen and phosphorous into the local waters. Algae thrived on the extra food, “and then the algae did what algae do: they bloomed like crazy,” Martin said.
The algae’s eggs live in sand on the ocean floor, sometimes waiting years for warm water and a rich nutrient environment. When those conditions prevail, thousands of cells can flourish in each cubic meter of ocean water.
This year’s bumper crop of red tide algae had tinted the ocean the color of reddish iced tea for several weeks. And at night, bioluminescence from the same algae caused some waves to sheen with an electric blue-green glimmer.
“It’s been spectacular at some of the beaches away from lights,” Martin said. “A camera can’t capture it, but the eye can see this beautiful sheen as the waves break.”
Red tide can be caused by several different types of algae, some of which can create an acid that makes marine mammals sick. Others can sicken humans, but Martin said the particular strain that bloomed this summer did not have those effects.
Surfers at Surfrider State Beach said they had noticed the red tide, but were more concerned with polluted Malibu Lagoon water that washed into the ocean when an unusual September rainstorm breached the sand berm.
“I think that made me ill,” said George Carr, who has been indulging in the sport for 53 years at the Malibu break. “I got sort of an allergic reaction, all itching and a rash.”
At the Zuma Lifeguard Station Monday, Atkins noted the waves had returned to blue. The ocean temperature had dropped to 58 degrees, which will cause the algae to form reproductive gametes, drop to the bottom and die.
“We’re glad to see them go,” he said.