[Red tides in México: a review].

With the purpose to make a review on the red tides occurence at mexican coasts, previous studies were analyzed. Dinoflagellates seem to be the main cause of toxic events mainly Gonyaulax polygramma, Gymnodinium catenatum, Pyrodinium bahamense var. compressum and Ptychodiscus brevis. There are other species which cause red tides but are not toxic. They are: Mesodinium rubrum, Gonyaulax triacantha, Noctiluca scintillans, Prorocentrum dentatum, Gymnodinium splendens, G. sanguineum, Ceratium tripos var. ponticum, C. furca, Scrippsiella trocoidea and Oscillatoria erythraea. The first of these is the most common cilliate of the Pacific coastlines and the last one is the most common cyanophyceae during the strong events of "El Niño". The magnitude is quite variable, from small stains of a hundred square meters to several square kilometers and its density ranges from 0.5 to 36 million cells/l. Their residence time goes from 1 or 2 days to as long as 5 months. The great densities are due to Prorocentrum dentatum and P. minimum, the latter is only observed in estuarine ponds for shrimp cultivation, they have not been related to poisoning episodes. New areas of the red tide occurrence have been recorded during the last decades, such as Acapulco Bay, Huatulco, Salinacruz and Puerto Madero. These localities and also Mazatlán, are the only regions in which paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) have registered fatal cases and in the Gulf of Mexico a great mortality of fishes has been noted due to ictiotoxin produced by Ptychodiscus brevis. On the other hand, at Yucatan and west coast of the Peninsula of California red tide events are little known.