1.   Toxic algae has previously been confined to lowland shallow lakes surrounded either by an increasing population or intensively farmed land.

2.   Blooms of toxic algae, the phenomenon known as red tide, can kill fish, contaminate shellfish and make people ill.

3.   In the Chesapeake Bay, manure from chicken sheds is suspected as a factor in recent blooms of the toxic algae pfiesteria.

4.   Nitrogen can also stimulate the growth of toxic algae that kill fish.

5.   Plus, a toxic algae found in the rivers has been linked to a surge in the number of sick fish.

6.   Researchers have found that unlike most toxic algae, the dinoflagellates dispense their poisons directly into the environment, to paralyze their prey, rather than harboring them internally.

7.   Scientists suspect the toxic Crypto algae was buried in muds in the lake, and got stirred up and sent seaward with the massive water releases.

8.   Some scientists hypothesize that the grebes are being poisoned by toxic algae.

9.   The same toxic microscopic algae identified in the St. Lucie Estuary last week also was found in the St. Johns River last year.