Occurrence, increase in frequency, intensity and spatial coverage of harmful algal blooms during the past decade in the EEZ of India are documented here. Eighty algal blooms were recorded during the period 1998–2010. Of the eighty algal blooms, 31 blooms were formed by dinoflagellates, 27 by cyanobacteria, and 18 by diatoms. Three raphidophyte and one haptophyte blooms were also observed. Potentially toxic microalgae recorded from the Indian waters were Alexandrium spp., Gymnodinium spp. Dinophysis spp., Coolia monotis, Prorocentrum lima, and Pseudo-nitzschia spp. Examination of available data from the literature during the last hundred years and in situ observations during 1998–2010 indicates clear-cut increase in the occurrence of HABs in the Indian EEZ. 1. Introduction The International Council for the Exploration of the Seas [1] has defined phytoplankton blooms as, those, which are noticeable, particularly to general public, directly or indirectly through their effects such as visible discolouration of the waters, foam production, and fish or invertebrate mortality or toxicity to humans. Among around 5000 species of marine phytoplankton, around 300 species including diatoms, dinoflagellate, raphidophytes, prymnesiophytes, cyanophytes, and silicoflagellates can at times cause algal blooms. Only a few dozen of these species have the ability to produce potent toxins. Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are global phenomenon, reported from over 30 countries including India. Number of HABs, economic losses from them, the types of resources affected, and number of toxins and toxic species have also increased dramatically in recent years [2–4]. The first recorded observation on algal blooms in Indian waters is by Hornell in 1908 [5]. He witnessed massive fish mortality, largely of sardines floating on the dark yellow coloured water that contained plankton. In 1916, he found Euglena and Noctiluca species to be responsible for such episodes. Subrahmanyan [6] identified this organism as Hornellia marina, and later in 1982 Hara and Chihara [7] reclassified this as the raphidophyte Chattonella marina. Since then, there have been several reports on various algal blooms dominated by blooms of Noctiluca scintillans (= N. miliaris) and Trichodesmium spp. from the EEZ of India. Episodic observations on algal blooms were reported from 1917 onwards. First record of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) was during 1981 from coastal Tamilnadu, Karnataka, and Maharashtra [8]. In 1981, PSP resulted in death of 3 persons and hospitalization of 85 people due to consumption of
References
[1]
ICES, “Report of the ICES special meeting on the causes, dynamics and effects of exceptional marine blooms and related events,” International Council Meeting Paper 1984/ E, 42, ICES, 1984.
[2]
T. J. Smayda and A. W. White, “Has there been a global expansion of algal blooms? If so is there a connection with human activities?” in Toxic Marine Phytoplankton, E. Granelli, Ed., p. 516, Elsevier, 1990.
[3]
G. M. Hallegraeff, “A review of harmful algal blooms and their apparent global increase,” Phycologia, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 79–99, 1993.
[4]
F. M. Van Dolah, “Marine algal toxins: origins, health effects, and their increased occurrence,” Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 108, no. 1, pp. 133–141, 2000.
[5]
J. Hornell, “A new protozoan cause of widespread mortality among marine fishes,” in Madras Fisheries Investigations Bulletin, vol. 11, pp. 53–56, 1917.
[6]
R. Subrahmanyan, “On the life history and ecology of Hornellia marina gen. et sp. Nov., (Chloromonadineae), causing green discoloration of the sea and mortality among marine organisms off the Malabar coast,” Indian Journal of Fisheries, vol. 1, pp. 182–203, 1954.
[7]
Y. Hara and M. Chihara, “Ultra structure and taxonomy of Chattonella (class Raphidophyceae) in Japan,” Japanese Journal of Phycology, vol. 30, pp. 47–56, 1982.
[8]
V. P. Devassy and S. R. Bhat, “The killer tides,” Science Reporter, vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 16–19, 1991.
[9]
I. Karunasagar, H. S. V. Gowda, M. Subhurah, M. N. Venugopal, and I. Karunasagar, “Outbreak of paralytic shellfish poisoning in Mangalore, west coast of India,” Current Science, vol. 53, p. 247, 1984.
[10]
A. Godhe and I. Karunasagar, “Gymnodinium catenatum on west coast of India,” Harmful Algae News, vol. 15, p. 1, 1996.
[11]
I. Karunasagar, B. Joesph, K. K. Philipose, and I. Karunasagar, “Another outbreak of PSP in India,” Harmful Algae News, vol. 17, p. 1, 1998.
[12]
C. R. Tomas, Identifying Marine phytoplankton, Academic press, New York, NY, USA, 1997.
[13]
T. R. Parsons, Y. Maita, and C. M. Lalli, A Manual of Chemical and Biological Methods for Seawater Analysis, Pergamon Press, New York, NY, USA, 1984.
[14]
UNESCO, “Protocols for the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), core measurements,” in IOC Manual and Guides, vol. 29, p. 170, 1994.
[15]
R. Santhanam and A. Srinivasan, “Impact of dinoflagellate Dinophysis caudata bloom on the hydrography and fishery potentials of Tuticorin Bay, South India,” in Harmful and Toxic Algal Blooms, T. Yasumoto, Y. Oshima, and Y. Fukuyo, Eds., pp. 41–44, IOC-UNESCO, Sendai, Japan, 1996.
[16]
N. K. Panikar, “Indian fisheries,” Current Science, vol. 28, no. 12, pp. 53–54, 1959.
[17]
A. K. Nagabhushanam, “On an unusually dense phytoplankton bloom around Minicoy Island (Arabian Sea), and its effect on the local tuna fisheries,” Current Science, vol. 36, no. 22, pp. 611–612, 1967.
[18]
S. Z. Qasim, “Some characteristics of a Trichodesmium bloom in the Laccadives,” Deep Research-II, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 655–660, 1970.
[19]
R. K. Sarangi, P. Chauhan, and S. R. Nayak, “Detection and monitoring of Trichodesmium blooms in the coastal waters off Saurashtra coast, India using IRS-P4 OCM data,” Current Science, vol. 86, no. 12, pp. 1636–1641, 2004.
[20]
R. K. Sarangi, P. Chauhan, S. R. Nayak, and U. Shreedhar, “Remote sensing of Trichodesmium blooms in the coastal waters off Gujarat, India using IRS-P4 OCM,” International Journal of Remote Sensing, vol. 26, no. 9, pp. 1777–1780, 2005.
[21]
A. A. Krishnan, P. K. Krishnakumar, and M. Rajagopalan, “Trichodesmium erythraeum (Ehrenberg) bloom along the Southwest coast of India (Arabian Sea) and its impact on trace metal concentrations in seawater,” Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, vol. 71, no. 3-4, pp. 641–646, 2007.
[22]
K. B. Padmakumar, B. R. Smitha, L. C. Thomas et al., “Blooms of Trichodesmium erythraeum in the South Eastern Arabian Sea during the onset of 2009 summer monsoon,” Ocean Science Journal, vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 151–157, 2010.
[23]
S. W. A. Naqvi and R. Sen Gupta, “NO, a useful tool for the estimation of nitrate deficits in the Arabian Sea,” Deep Sea Research Part A, vol. 32, no. 6, pp. 665–674, 1985.
[24]
R. Dugdale, J. Goering, R. Barber, R. Smith, and T. Packard, “Denitrification and hydrogen sulfide in the Peru upwelling region during 1976,” Deep Sea Research, vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 601–608, 1977.
[25]
C. Mantoura, R. F. C. Fauzi, C. S. Law et al., “Nitrogen biogeochemical cycling in the Northwestern Indian Ocean,” Deep Sea Research Part II, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 651–671, 1993.
[26]
A. G. Davies and C. E. Morales, “An appraisal of the stoichiometry of dissolved oxygen/nutrient inter-relationships in the upwelling system off Northern Chile,” Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, vol. 78, no. 3, pp. 697–706, 1998.
[27]
S. Prasannakumar, R. P. Roshin, J. Narvekar, P. K. Dineshkumar, and E. Vivekanandan, “Response of the Arabian Sea to global warming and associated regional climate shift,” Marine Environmental Research, vol. 68, no. 5, pp. 217–222, 2009.
[28]
S. Suvapepant, “Trichodesmium blooms in gulf of Thailand,” in Marine Pelagic Cyanobacteria: Trichodesmium and Other Diazotrophs, E. J. Carpenter, D. G. Capone, and J. G. Rueter, Eds., pp. 343–348, Kluwer Academic publisher, 1992.
[29]
K. G. Sellner, “Physiology, ecology, and toxic properties of marine cyanobacteria blooms,” Limnology and Oceanography, vol. 42, no. 5, pp. 1089–1104, 1997.
[30]
D. V. S. Rao, “Asterionella japonica bloom and discolouration off Waltair, Bay of Bengal,” Limnology and Oceanography, vol. 14, pp. 632–634, 1969.
[31]
A. Subramanian and A. Purushothaman, “Hemidiscus hardmanianus bloom and fish mortality,” Limnology and Oceanography, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 910–911, 1985.
[32]
K. K. Satpathy and K. V. K. Nair, “Occurrence of phytoplankton bloom and its effect on coastal water quality,” Indian Journal of Marine Sciences, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 145–147, 1996.
[33]
S. B. Choudhury and R. C. Panigrahy, “Occurrence of bloom of diatom Asterionella glacialis in near shore waters of Gopalpur, Bay of Bengal,” Indian Journal of Marine Sciences, vol. 18, pp. 204–206, 1989.
[34]
R. C. Panigrahy and R. Gouda, “Occurrence of bloom of the diatom Asterionella glacialis (Castracane) in the Rushikulya estuary, East Coast of India,” Mahasagar, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 179–182, 1990.
[35]
S. Mishra and R. C. Panigrahy, “Occurrence of diatom blooms in Bahuda estuary, east coast of India,” Indian Journal of Marine Sciences, vol. 24, pp. 99–101, 1995.
[36]
L. Fritz, M. A. Quilliam, J. L. C. Wright, A. M. Beale, and T. M. Work, “An outbreak of domoic acid poisoning attributed to the pennate diatom Pseudonitzschia australis,” Journal of Phycology, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 439–442, 1992.
[37]
S. S. Bates, D. L. Garrison, and R. A. Horner, “Bloom dynamics and physiology of domoic acid- producing Pseudo-nitzschia species,” in Physiological Ecology of Harmful Algal Blooms, D. M. Anderson, A. D. Cembella, and G. M. Hallegraeff, Eds., p. 267, Springer, Heidelberg, Germany, 1998.
[38]
C. A. Scholin, F. Gulland, G. J. Doucette et al., “Mortality of sea lions along the central California coast linked to a toxic diatom bloom,” Nature, vol. 403, no. 6765, pp. 80–83, 2000.
[39]
S. S. Bates, C. J. Bird, A. S. W. de Freitas, et al., “Pennate diatom Nitzschia pungens as the primary source of domoic acid, a toxin in shellfish from eastern Prince Edward Island, Canada,” Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, vol. 46, no. 7, pp. 1203–1215, 1989.
[40]
V. L. Trainer, W. P. Cochlan, A. Erickson et al., “Recent domoic acid closures of shellfish harvest areas in Washington State inland waterways,” Harmful Algae, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 449–459, 2007.
[41]
Y. Onoue and K. Nozawa, “Separation of toxin from harmful red tides occurring along the coast of Kagoshima Prefecture,” in Red Tides-Biology, Environmental Science and Toxicology, T. Okaichi, D. M. Anderson, and T. Nemeto, Eds., pp. 371–374, Elsevier, New York, NY, USA, 1989.
[42]
T. Oda, A. Ishimatsu, S. Takeshita, and T. Muramatsu, “Hydrogen peroxide production by the red tide flagellate Chattonella marina,” Bioscience Biotechnology and Biochemistry, vol. 58, pp. 957–958, 1994.
[43]
K. B. Padmakumar, Algal blooms and Zooplankton standing crop along the South West coast of India, Ph.D. thesis, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala, India, 2010.
[44]
N. V. Madhu, P. D. Reny, M. Paul, N. Ullas, and P. Resmi, “Occurrence of red tide caused by Karenia mikimotoi (toxic dinoflagellate) in the Southwest Coast of India,” Indian Journal of Geo-Marine Sciences, vol. 40, no. 6, pp. 821–825, 2011.
