Algae making return to SW Florida beaches

Red and green, microscopic and massive, algae of all sorts have returned in giant proportions to Southwest Florida.

Globs of a toxic brown-colored algae called lyngbya are fouling miles of northern Sanibel Island and traces of red tide are growing in the Gulf of Mexico offshore of Boca Grande Pass to Big Carlos Pass and in the mouth of San Carlos Bay.

Up the Caloosahatchee River, east of Alva and in Lake Okeechobee, patches of toxic blue-green algae have slicked the shoreline pea-green.

And on beaches from Sanibel to Naples, clumps of red drift algae have been washing ashore for months. Of all the beaches, Fort Myers Beach has been the worst hit by the red drift algae.

"We're finding a lot of different kinds of algae," said Rick Bartleson, a scientist with the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation marine lab. "They have everything they need, all the nutrients and light."