Review: Red tide a threat to Persian Gulf ecosystem

There is a growing belief that harmful algal blooms (HABs) are increasingly spreading to all the oceans of the world, coastal seas, estuaries and lagoons. One of the HABs is red tide that frequently occurs in Persian Gulf ecosystem. Red tide was observed from 2008 in Persian Gulf. The most observable density and growth of the red tide by satellites is located across the northern Strait of Hormuz which has been survived there for more than 10 months. This phenomena threat aquatic systems and lead to economic loss and health care problem. Other undesirable impact of red tide is discoloring water, organism mortality, disruption of water desalination plant and etc. red tide agent in Persian Gulf is Cochlodinium polykrikoides, which is dinoflagelate. Super Cyclonic Storm Gonu, ballasted water in shipment and industrial and domestic wastewater are main causes of Persian Gulf red tide. This apparent global increase of HAB events is a worrisome phenomenon for environmentalists, public health officials, world fisheries, and coastal aquaculture and should