If you’ve lived or stayed in Florida for any period of time, chances are you’ve heard of red tide.

What exactly causes this environmental phenomenon? It’s the too-high concentration of microscopic algae that make for dead fish lined along the beach and that “red tide” smell in the air.

Despite Sarasota County and Manatee County’s relatively persistent red tide beginning in September, recent samples on the shore of county beaches indicate non-detectable to a low presence of the red tide organism, a clear departure from even last week’s “very low to high” readings.

Mote Marine Laboratory scientist Vincent Lovko says these low readings could even be here to stay.

“As far as the drop we’re seeing now, it could be that (the organism) hasn’t moved away or it could be that it’s reaching its end,” Lovko said in an interview Wednesday.

Despite low red-tide levels, Venice Beach, Nokomis Beach and Coquina Beach still reported respiratory irritation this week. In general, Siesta Beach and Turtle Beach tend to have higher red tide readings.

So, as always, be safe out there and check visitbeaches.org for Mote’s beach conditions reporting system.

But is it too soon to call this a holiday gift from Florida? We think not.