5,000 Mile-Wide , Mass of Seaweed
Heads Toward , the Gulf Coast.
CNN reports that a massive blob of seaweed
is headed for the shores of Florida
and other coasts along the Gulf of Mexico.
The mass of seaweed that formed
in the Atlantic Ocean threatens to bring
down the upcoming tourist season.
CNN reports that scientists have been
tracking large accumulations of a variety
of seaweed called sargassum since 2011.
Sargassum is known to form large
blooms in the Atlantic, however this
year's is the largest on record.
The massive bloom spans over
5,000 miles from the coast
of Africa to the Gulf of Mexico. .
This floating habitat provides food
and protection for fishes, mammals,
marine birds, crabs and more, Sargassum Information Hub website, via CNN.
It serves as a critical habitat for
threatened loggerhead sea turtles
and as a nursery area for a variety
of commercially important fishes such
as mahi mahi, jacks and amberjacks, Sargassum Information Hub website, via CNN.
Over the course of the summer,
the mass will push west through
the Caribbean and into the Gulf of Mexico.
According to Dr. Brian Lapointe, a researcher at Florida Atlantic
University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, the mass of
seaweed is expected to reach the shores of Florida around July.
This is an entirely new oceanographic
phenomenon that is creating such a problem
— really a catastrophic problem — for tourism
in the Caribbean region where it piles
up on beaches up to 5 or 6 feet deep, According to Dr. Brian Lapointe, a researcher at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, via CNN.
This is an entirely new oceanographic
phenomenon that is creating such a problem
— really a catastrophic problem — for tourism
in the Caribbean region where it piles
up on beaches up to 5 or 6 feet deep, According to Dr. Brian Lapointe, a researcher at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, via CNN