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A bloom of the Florida red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists in Southwest Florida and currently extends along ~145 miles of coastline. Concentrations of >1,000,000 K. brevis cells per liter (“high” concentrations) were observed 10 miles offshore of Pinellas County, and in areas of Manatee, Sarasota, Lee, and Collier counties. This was the first observation of “high” concentrations offshore of Pinellas County. Relative to last week, however, parts of Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee and Collier counties showed decreased cell concentrations, and none of the samples processed from Charlotte County over the past week contained “high” concentrations of K. brevis. An aerial survey conducted last week indicated the presence of offshore blooms of the marine cyanobacterium, Trichodesmium. Reports of fish kills were received for multiple locations in Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties. Respiratory irritation was reported over the past week in Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Lee, and Collier counties. Forecasts by the USF-FWC Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides for Pinellas to northern Monroe counties predict net northwestern movement of surface waters and southeastern transport of subsurface waters over the next three days. The next complete red tide status report will be posted on Friday, August 31st. This information, including maps and reports with additional details, is also available on the FWRI Red Tide website. The website also provides links to additional information related to the topic of Florida red tide including satellite imagery, experimental red tide forecasts, shellfish harvesting areas, the FWC Fish Kill Hotline, the Florida Poison Information Center (to report human health effects related to exposure to red tide), and other wildlife related hotlines. To learn more about various organisms that have been known to cause algal blooms in Florida waters, see the FWRI Red Tide Flickr page. Archived status maps can also be found on Flickr. The FWRI HAB group in conjunction with Mote Marine Laboratory now have a Facebook page. Please like our page and learn interesting facts concerning red tide and other harmful algal blooms in Florida.