Golden Tides Threaten Mexico's and Florida's Reefs and Beaches

Subscriber Content Preview
Only active subscribers can view the whole article here

A massive lump of sargassum seaweed is floating toward Florida, part of a floating mass estimated to weigh 8.7 million tons. It covers the surface and will eventually collect on beaches, die, and rot.

Sargassum is a gold-colored macroalgae found in temperate and tropical oceans around the globe. It can form floating islands that stretch for miles, providing shelter and food to birds, fish, sea turtles, and crustaceans. However, it's become increasingly nomadic as warming ocean temperatures and nutrient runoff have helped it blossom in unfamiliar waters. It can sap the nutrients and oxygen from the reefs it engulfs, and it gets worse when it makes landfall. It stinks....

Subscribers: Read the full article here

---

Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email. And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent
Get a free monthly email and a sample issue!