Thousands
of jumbo squid have beached themselves on central California shores this week,
committing mass "suicide." But despite decades of study into the
phenomenon in which the squid essentially fling themselves onto shore, the
cause of these mass beachings have been a mystery.
But
a few intriguing clues suggest poisonous algae that form so-called red tides
may be intoxicating the
Humboldt squid and causing the disoriented animals to swim ashore in
Monterey Bay, said William Gilly, a marine biologist at Stanford University's
Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, Calif.
Each
of the strandings has corresponded to a red tide, in which algae bloom and
release an extremely potent brain toxin, Gilly said. This fall, the red tides
have occurred every three weeks, around the same time as the squid beachings,
he said. (The squid have been stranding in large numbers for years, with no
known cause.)
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