Generally phytoplankton (plankton that use photosynthesis like plants) need nutrients and light to grow at very high rates. Since light is readily available in the surface ocean, nutrient availability is the most important driver of phytoplankton blooms.
Some HABs composed of diatom species Pseudo-nitzschia spp. or the dinoflagellate Karenia brevis can produce toxins harmful to copepods, fish, and higher trophic levels like dolphins and humans. “Red tides” are actually blooms of Karenia brevis that sometimes lead to massive fish dieoffs. Other phytoplankton blooms are harmful not because of the toxins that they produce, but because of the processes that happen when the blooms die off: massive amounts of phytoplankton die and sink to the bottom where they are decomposed by bacteria. These bacteria use oxygen to consume the dead phytoplankton, creating large portions of the water column that are low in oxygen. Fishes and some zooplankton avoid these low oxygen zones, but gelatinous zooplankton seem to be able to withstand low oxygen conditions. These low oxygen regions are often referred to as “dead zones” because very few animals can live there. A dead zone occurs regularly in the summertime in the northern Gulf of Mexico and has been expanding in recent years.