Sunlight decreases the toxicity of golden algae, which kills millions of fish in the southern United States every year.
Several environmental factors influence toxin production but sunlight is a key component in the magnitude and duration of the toxicity of the algae to fish.
Specifically, the longer golden algae toxins are exposed to natural sunlight, the less toxic the algal toxin becomes to fish.
“What we think happens in terms of the large fish kills is that sunlight only penetrates down so deep in a lake, so in a lake with golden algae blooms, fish located at greater depths may be exposed to more algal toxins,” study co-author Dr. Bryan Brooks said.
Read more at Baylor University