SummaryThousands of jumbo squid all along the Californian shores have been reported to committing "mass suicides". For years they have been swimming up to beaches and flinging themselves on shore. Many scientist have proposed that red tides that release a lethal toxin called domoic acid may be intoxicating the squid and disorienting them. But when researchers tested the stranded squid for domoic acid, they found only trace amounts of the chemicals. At high levels of the domoic acid, it can cause brain cells to go haywire and fire like crazy, so much that they fill up with calcium and explode and die.
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Why I chose this topicI chose this topic for my scrAPES because I felt this was an interesting topic the fact that red tides produce a domoic acid which is affecting organisms such as the jumbo squids is bizarre. If the jumbo squids are affected by the red tide it makes me wonder if anything could also be affected.
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