Source: CNN
Was threatened by toxic ‘red tide’ algal blooms return soon Reaching its shores, Florida is preparing for another uninvited guest: the sargassum. A well-known annoyance to Sunshine State beachgoers, this year’s so-called Atlantic sargassum belt is huge—more than 5,000 miles long and weighing an estimated 10 million tons.
While seaweed is an important marine habitat in the open ocean, when it washes up on beaches across Florida this summer, it quickly decomposes and releases nasty toxins. like hydrogen sulfide—smells like rotten eggs, but can also cause eye irritation, headaches, and stomach upset. Sargassum can also wreak havoc on the nearshore environment and their inhabitants, including suffocating sea turtle nests on beaches.
Scientists are still trying to figure out what is driving the growth of sargassum, which seems to increase year by year. Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula and many Caribbean islands were also affected, the Mexican Navy had to resort to catching our sargassum before it reached the beaches.
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Sargassum fish spend their whole life floating among sargassum algae
