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The brown bubbles floating on top of the water may tarnish Marco’s beaches, but it isn’t dangerous.

Instead the naturally occurring micro algae occurs yearly in offshore waters and made its way toward the coastline after Tropical Storm Barry hit in June, said Nancy Richie, an environmental specialist for the City of Marco Island.

“In this year’s case, the tropical storm seems to have caused an established bloom from offshore to the coast,” Richie said in an e-mail Wednesday. “With no regular rain or wind patterns of late, and also the warm water temperatures, the coastal waters are optimum conditions for the bloom to linger and dissipate quickly.”

Called trichodesmium, this blue-green micro algae is found in sub-tropical and tropical waters worldwide. The bloom is a naturally occurring organism, and could happen anytime between May and September, Richie said.

The last large bloom occurred in 2004.

Richie said there have been reports of the algae from Pinellas County all the way south to Collier County for the past six weeks, with Rookery Bay National Esturaine Research Reserve reporting the algae’s prescene in most of the bays on the reserve.

ROGER LALONDE / Eagle staff

This is a shot of the beach behind the Tide Restaurant on South Collier Blvd on Marco.

While the water may be filled with a brown foam, Richie said beach-goers shouldn’t be afraid to head into the water to cool off.

“It does have an unpleasant odor as it decomposes and is unsightly,” Richie said. “(But) it is not harmful to human health and is non-toxic algae.”

Richie said even though the algae is non-toxic, people should rinse the algae off after swimming or wading.

Richie said the state is monitoring and sampling the bloom weekly, and Islanders are encouraged to contact Richie if they observe a fish kill on the beaches.

There have been about three fish kills reported on Marco Island since the bloom formed.

And while this form of algae is annoying, Richie said residents shouldn’t worry about it developing into red tide.

“It is a totally different organism,” she said. “(Red tide) can happen any time during any month, and we have not had a documentation of red tide during this bloom.”