Texas Parks and Wildlife officials observed reddish water and dead fish about 12 to 14 miles into the Gulf of Mexico off the Sabine Pass, the western border of Louisiana. Late Wednesday, Texas fishery officials took a sample of the reddish water, but the results will not be available until Friday. Louisiana Marine Consortium researchers Nancy Rabalais and Quay Dortch said they do not believe the problem is associated with low oxygen conditions that they mapped just a few weeks ago. Texas officials notified Dortch of the problem. She specializes in researching harmful algal blooms.
Red tides are an overabundance of reddish algae that can kill fish.
Dortch said she saw no discolored water during a research cruise Tuesday in the Terrebonne Bay area. She has not analyzed water samples for harmful algae, she said. The majority of dead fish were 6 to 10 inches long. The flight over the area was prompted by a call from a fisherman who reported seeing thousands of dead black drum about 10 miles south-southeast of Sabine Pass on Saturday. Texas officials also heard reports of reddish water on Friday, the e-mail said.