Yikes! And I thought #KareniaMikimotoi was bad...
#SeaDragon populations decimated in ‘mind-blowing’ mass mortality event caused by #SouthAustralian #AlgalBloom
Thousands of #SeaDragons, #pipefishes and #seahorses have washed up along state’s coastline according to analysis of #CitizenScientist records
Petra Stock
Sat 19 Sep 2026
Excerpt: "Stefan Andrews, a marine biologist and co-founder of the Great Southern Reef Foundation, said the scale of the mortalities was 'mind blowing', especially for animals like sea dragons, which were rare to see and found in only a handful of locations along the coast.
More than 800 species have been affected in Australia’s first bloom of #KareniaCristata, a rare and toxic type of algae deadly to marine life.
"Surveys and reports were beginning to put numbers on the devastating toll, such as the catastrophic decline in #GiantCuttlefish this year, research made possible through the contributions of #CitizenScientists and divers.
" 'We saw so many people just step up and do their bit to report observations,' he said. 'Sometimes mortalities that wash up on the beach could have disappeared in a matter of hours. So to have all of this data and information that scientists can analyse deeply is so useful to get an understanding of what’s going on.' "
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/iStlB
#AlgaeBloom #ToxicAlgae #ClimateDiaryAustralia #ClimateChange #ToxicAlgae #SouthAustralia #AlgalBloom #OceansAreLife #WaterIsLife
