LIHUE — A mysterious brownish-green plume is lingering along Kauai’s eastern shore. The state Department of Health’s Clean Water Branch has issued a Modified Brown Water Advisory for coastal waters from Moloaa Bay to Anahola Bay due to the substance. “Possible
LIHUE — A mysterious brownish-green plume is lingering along Kauai’s eastern shore.
The state Department of Health’s Clean Water Branch has issued a Modified Brown Water Advisory for coastal waters from Moloaa Bay to Anahola Bay due to the substance.
“Possible source is a coral spawning event or an algae bloom,” CWB wrote in its initial advisory. “However, the color of the plume is not that of a coral spawn and also the color is not what is normally seen for an algae bloom.”
Samples of the substance were collected and sent to the DOH lab for identification Sunday.
Watson Okubo, the CWB’s monitoring and analysis section chief, said Monday afternoon that the bloom organism appears to be a species of the cyanobacterial genus Trichodesmium, perhaps the species T. erythraeum.
“This species is a well-known bloom former in tropical marine waters,” he wrote in an email.
As a precaution, DOH is advising the public to stay out of affected waters due to the possibility of “swimmers itch.”
