Kochi, Aug 26
Continuous monsoon-driven river runoff, coupled with changing coastal conditions, has triggered the recent bioluminescent red tide event along Kerala’s coast, the ICAR–Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has pointed out.
A field survey by the CMFRI’s Marine Biodiversity and Environment Management Division (MBEMD) found that heavy inflows from rivers during the monsoon enriched coastal waters with nutrients, creating favourable conditions for the bloom of Noctiluca scintillans, a large bioluminescent dinoflagellate often linked to such phenomena.
The institute’s latest observations, made in mid-August aboard the research vessel Silver Pompano, documented the bloom up to 40 km off Kochi and at depths of 40 metres.
Unlike earlier reports limited to nearshore waters, researchers this time recorded expansive patches, nearly two kilometres long and wide, drifting towards the coast.