Red Tide Dinoflagellate

Karenia brevis causes Florida's notorious red tides - blooms that kill fish by the millions, close beaches, and cause respiratory irritation in humans. A single liter of red tide water can contain 10 million of these dinoflagellates, each producing brevetoxins that attack nerve cells.

Red tides demonstrate how small organisms can overwhelm systems through sheer numbers and toxicity. The conditions enabling blooms (nutrients, temperature, currents) are increasingly influenced by human activity. The business parallel is the risk of 'toxic blooms' - small bad actors or practices that multiply rapidly under favorable conditions until they contaminate entire systems.