The largest algal bloom to threaten San Francisco Bay in recent memory has finally receded, but the creature that triggered it still lurks in the Bay’s blue waters, waiting for the right conditions to strike.
“So why this particular organism? Why heterosigma?” asked David Senn, a senior scientist at the San Francisco Estuary Institute, during a recent presentation. “That's that I don't know that we're actually going to figure out, but I don't know if we really need to because there are another 14 waiting in line right behind it.”
But this summer’s event has sparked questions about the region’s wastewater management systems and whether new protocols or permitting requirements are needed to improve the health of the Bay, especially amid a warming world. 'An unimaginable number': Thousands of dead fish washing up across the Bay Area Die-off is the latest symptom of an algal bloom damaging the health of the Bay
All that said, heterosigma has some distinct advantages, noted William Cochlan, a professor at San Francisco State’s Estuary & Ocean Science Center. Cochlan, who has studied this single-celled critter for decades, likened it to a “flying potato” for its bumpy shape and its two tiny tail-like appendages called flagella, which help propel it through the water column as it searches for nutrients and sunlight.Heterosigma can also be a bit of a bully.
'plentiful nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus' ie poop. Just to clarify for those that aren't chemists. There's lots of poop in our once gorgeous Bay. Years of sewer & treatment plant neglect dating back to the 1980s. It's over... $shithle by the bay.
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