With the Black Sea water off the Romanian coast having turned to a reddish-brown color for several days now, experts have stepped in to investigate the phenomenon. According to marine biologist Adrian Bilba, it is caused by microalgae that develop abundantly in certain environmental conditions, and not by chemical pollution, the scientist explained after examining under the microscope water samples from Constanta city's Tomis Port. He said that the phenomenon is caused by "a brown microalgae, a dinoflagellate of the genus Lingulodinium, which is resistant to environmental changes and salinity in particular, and is capable under certain conditions to produce a biotoxin, which is dangerous only if it builds up in the body of filtering molluscs (mussels in our case)."
"Fishermen, the curious public, the TV broadcasters got on alert over a tide of reddish-brown water in the Black Sea marine areas, in Tomis Port in particular; we collected water from there, we centrifuged it and obtained a sediment (...) which proved to be made of formations that populate this water. Biologists from the 'Grigore Antipa' National Marine Research and Development Institute identified certain brown algae. (...) It is no chemical pollution or sediment of any kind, but just brown algae. Some are worried because variants of this species can become toxic under certain circumstances, that is, they produce a biotoxin. (...) In marine dilution they do not pose a risk to humans," the biologist explained on his Facebook page.
However, he cautioned against harvesting clams from areas with high concentrations of brown algae.
"If the clams that filter these algae, and they filter a few liters a day, end up incorporating a larger amount of toxins, they can become harmful to humans. In conclusion, in my opinion, it is a non-risky situation that is interesting from a biological point of view and, of course, the experts will follow up in order to see if certain measures need to be taken," specified Adrian Bilba, told Agerpres.