Mysterious black blob floating near Florida [CNN.com] Wednesday, March 27, 2002

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Researchers who have been studying a giant, mysterious area of "black water" in Florida Bay say it seems to be associated with a diatom, a type of algae.

The algae was found in the water, according to Scott Willis at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the black water may be an algal bloom -- an explosion of microscopic marine life. Algal blooms are not rare in Florida waters, but blooms of this size are.

At its peak in February, the black water covered an estimated 700 square miles north of the Florida Keys and west of the tip of the mainland.

The algae does not seem to be killing fish, as some algal blooms -- like red tide -- are infamous for doing. But anglers say the fish they normally find in the area have disappeared. They've also reported the water as looking "snotty," "like sewage" and "nasty."

Florida officials refer to it as a "dark brown-black-green water mass."

Tuesday, Mote Marine Laboratory found there is oxygen in the water column -- it's not a "dead zone," as some had suspected.

Researchers do not know what triggered the bloom.

A theory that it had something to do with an inrush of fresh water and runoff from a river near the Everglades was discounted by water testing. Another theory is that it might somehow be linked to a recent red tide event near Naples, just to the north.

The area of black water was first noted in satellite images in mid-December.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

Answers

Oh. I thought it was a Reno story.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

Reno was on Jay Leno the other night, Monday or Tuesday. She is collecting all the Reno jokes, good and bad, that her staff can find.

Are there any bad ones?

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2002

Nothing about Reno is funny.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2002

Oh, I dunno.

She thinks she can be elected governor of Florida. I think that's funny.

By the time the election comes around, most of her supporters may well have died. [Old age and stuff, not because they are on any hit lists or anything.]

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2002