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#sargassum — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #sargassum, aggregated by home.social.

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  1. #solarpunksunday #solarpunk #Sargassum #seaweed

    1/2🧵

    Warming oceans fuel the spread of Sargassum, a floating seaweed that grows rapidly. It’s escaped its native habitat and is growing huge swaths around the Atlantic and Caribbean. When it dumps on shore, it releases sulfiric fumes that smell terrible and the seaweed itself contains toxic heavy metals.

    There are now numerous startups to explore it for carbon sequestration, bio-plastics/construction material, fertilizer, cosmetics…

  2. #Mexico to unveil #sargassum plan as crisis worsens in #Caribbean

    Specialists attribute the increase in sargassum influxes to rising ocean temperatures, greater nutrient availability and prolonged hours of solar radiation.

    By Mar Puig, UPI
    Published Jul 30, 2026

    Excerpt: "Specialists attribute the increase in sargassum influxes to rising ocean temperatures, greater nutrient availability and prolonged hours of solar radiation.

    "According to La Nación, which cited Brian Barnes, an assistant research professor in the University of South Florida College of Marine Science in St. Petersburg, those factors have fueled the accelerated growth of the #macroalgae in the tropical Atlantic. "

    Read more:
    accuweather.com/en/climate/mex

    #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #SargassoSea #RisingOceanTemperatures

  3. Die Ausbreitung der Braunalge „Sargassum“ auf dem Atlantik erreicht seit Jahren Rekordwerte. Riesige Teppiche treiben auf dem Meer – und stellen eine Gefahr für Segler da.
    #DillyDally #Sargassum

    floatmagazin.de/orte/wehe-wenn

  4. So, a recurring dream that I had some years ago had involved rotting vegetation underfoot and the smell of hydrogen sulfide. Ummm...

    "The hydrogen sulfide gas it releases when it rots is not only stinky but can irritate people's eyes, nose and throat, Florida Health says. The seaweed can also contain jellyfish or sea lice that can irritate skin."

    accuweather.com/en/weather-new

    #Sargassum #SargassumSeaweed #WarmingOceans #HydrogenSulfide

  5. 4-Dec-2025
    USF-led study reveals dramatic decline in some historic sargassum populations
    Study points to basin-wide ecological impacts as #sargassum
    patterns change

    eurekalert.org/news-releases/1

    #science #ecology #MarineBiology #algae #atlantic

  6. Shifting #Climate Alters Pattern of #Atlantic’s Giant #Seaweed Blobs
    Blooms of yellowish-brown seaweed along the Equator are breaking records and defiling beaches, while a centuries-old patch farther north is disappearing.
    A study published Thursday in the journal Nature Geoscience finds a big shift in the growth patterns of #sargassum, a type of floating #macroalgae that provides food and shelter for fish, turtles, seabirds and other marine life.
    nytimes.com/2025/12/04/climate
    archive.ph/NTC8l

  7. The Government of #StKitts and #Nevis is exploring solutions to address the growing problem of #sargassum seaweed that continues to wash up along the #beaches. sknvibes.com/news/newsdetails.

  8. This used to be a stretch of sandy beach in Humacao, Puerto Rico. Thanks to warming water temperatures, sargassum seaweed blooms have choked beaches all around the Caribbean islands.

    Not only is the seaweed clogging the beach, it seems to contribute to beach erosion. There's now a steep drop off where there used to be soft dunes. We saw plenty of dead fish that were probably caught in the mass of seaweed and died when the tide dropped.

    #PuertoRico #Sargassum #ClimateEmergency #GlobalWarming

  9. Über 31 Millionen Tonnen #Sargassum treiben derzeit Richtung #Florida und #Karibik.

    Das rasante Wachstum des giftigen #Seetangs bedroht #Ökosysteme, #Tourismus und #Gesundheit.

    Hauptursachen sind steigende #Meerestemperaturen und übermäßiger #Nährstoffeintrag durch #Landwirtschaft. Während Küstenregionen mit aufwendiger Räumung reagieren, wird auch an nachhaltiger Nutzung geforscht, etwa für #Biokunststoffe oder #Wasserfilter.

    edition.cnn.com/2025/05/15/cli

    #Klimawandel #Meeresverschmutzung

  10. Since 2011, massive, episodic influxes of floating #sargassum seaweed on #Caribbean shorelines have emerged as a coastal hazard and a recurring economic shock to tourism-dependent Small Island Developing States (SIDS). undp.org/barbados/projects/imp

  11. Sargassum seaweed (Sargassum muticum) or Wire-weed is an invasive seaweed, originating in Japan that is now found all along our coastline. Believed to have been spread between oyster farms. The small round air bladders help it float upright in the water column - and spread along the coasts when fragmented during stormy weather.
    County Clare, Ireland.

    Cormacscoast.com walking tours

    #wildatlanticway #walkingtours #discoverireland #keepdiscovering #marinelife #biodiversity #Sargassum #seaweed

  12. Swimming #crustacean eats unlikely food source in the deep ocean phys.org/news/2024-09-crustace

    A #DeepSea isopod that consumes #Sargassum sinking from the #ocean’s surface royalsocietypublishing.org/doi

    "Using the submersible #Alvin, scientists encountered this isopod swimming 3.7 miles deep... Surprisingly, these #isopods can be seen carrying something more common on the ocean's surface: large pieces of Sargassum #algae. At the surface, Sargassum grows using photosynthesis, forming floating forests"

  13. A By-the-Wind Sailor (Velella velella) washed up on the shore with a sprinkling of Sargassum seaweed "berries".
    County Clare, Ireland.

    Cormacscoast.com walking tours

    #wildatlanticway #walkingtours #discoverireland #keepdiscovering #marinelife #biodiversity #bythewindsailor #Sargassum #Ireland

  14. Secrets of #sargassum: Scientists advance knowledge of #seaweed causing chaos in the Caribbean and West Africa
    phys.org/news/2024-05-secrets- paper: pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2312

    "floating mats of sargassum have long been present in the North #Atlantic. However, since 2011, a population has established between West Africa and South America, and increased in size to form 'the great Atlantic sargassum belt'—a 9,000km-long bloom, visible from space and estimated to weigh 35 million tons."

  15. I remember this story from last year...

    #Pathogen’ Storm: #VibrioBacteria, #Sargassum and #Plastic Marine Debris

    By gisele galoustian | 5/18/2023

    "A new study uncovers how the interplay between Sargassum spp., plastic marine debris and Vibrio bacteria creates the perfect 'pathogen' storm that has implications for both marine life and public health. Vibrio bacteria are found in waters around the world and are the dominant cause of death in humans from the marine environment. For example, Vibrio vulnificus, one of more than 100 species of Vibrio, sometimes referred to as flesh-eating bacteria, can cause life-threatening foodborne illnesses from #seafood consumption as well as disease and death from open #wound infections.

    "Since 2011, Sargassum, free-living populations of brown macroalga, have been rapidly expanding in the #SargassoSea and other parts of the open ocean such as the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, including frequent and unprecedented seaweed accumulation events on beaches. Plastic marine debris, first found in surface waters of the Sargasso Sea, has become a worldwide concern, and is known to persist decades longer than natural substrates in the marine environment.

    "Currently, little is known about the ecological relationship of vibrios with Sargassum. Moreover, genomic and metagenomic evidence has been lacking as to whether vibrios colonizing plastic marine debris and Sargassum could potentially infect humans. As summer kicks into high gear and efforts are underway to find innovative solutions to repurpose Sargassum, could these substrates pose a triple threat to public health?

    "Researchers from Florida Atlantic University and collaborators fully sequenced the genomes of 16 Vibrio cultivars isolated from eel larvae, plastic marine debris, Sargassum, and seawater samples collected from the Caribbean and Sargasso seas of the North Atlantic Ocean. What they discovered is Vibrio pathogens have the unique ability to 'stick' to microplastics and that these microbes might just be adapting to plastic.

    “'Plastic is a new element that’s been introduced into marine environments and has only been around for about 50 years,' said Tracy Mincer, Ph.D., corresponding lead author and an assistant professor of biology at FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College. 'Our lab work showed that these Vibrio are extremely aggressive and can seek out and stick to plastic within minutes. We also found that there are attachment factors that microbes use to stick to plastics, and it is the same kind of mechanism that pathogens use.'

    "The study, published in the journal Water Research , illustrates that open ocean vibrios represent an up to now undescribed group of microbes, some representing potential new species, possessing a blend of pathogenic and low nutrient acquisition genes, reflecting their pelagic habitat and the substrates and hosts they colonize. Utilizing metagenome-assembled genome (MAG), this study represents the first Vibrio spp. genome assembled from plastic debris.

    "The study highlighted vertebrate pathogen genes closely related to cholera and non-cholera bacterial strains. Phenotype testing of cultivars confirmed rapid biofilm formation, hemolytic and lipophospholytic activities, consistent with pathogenic potential.

    "Researchers also discovered that zonula occludens toxin or 'zot' genes, first described in Vibrio cholerae, which is a secreted toxin that increases intestinal permeability, were some of the most highly retained and selected genes in the vibrios they found. These vibrios appear to be getting in through the gut, getting stuck in the intestines and infecting that way.

    "'Another interesting thing we discovered is a set of genes called ‘zot’ genes, which causes leaky gut syndrome,' said Mincer. 'For instance, if a fish eats a piece of plastic and gets infected by this Vibrio, which then results in a #LeakyGut and diarrhea, it’s going to release waste nutrients such #nitrogen and #phosphate that could stimulate Sargassum growth and other surrounding organisms.'

    "Findings show some Vibrio spp. in this environment have an ‘omnivorous’ lifestyle targeting both plant and animal hosts in combination with an ability to persist in oligotrophic conditions. With increased human-Sargassum-plastic marine debris interactions, associated microbial flora of these substrates could harbor potent opportunistic pathogens. Importantly, some cultivation-based data show beached Sargassum appear to harbor high amounts of Vibrio bacteria.

    "'I don’t think at this point, anyone has really considered these microbes and their capability to cause infections,' said Mincer. 'We really want to make the public aware of these associated risks. In particular, caution should be exercised regarding the harvest and processing of Sargassum biomass until the risks are explored more thoroughly.'"

    fau.edu/newsdesk/articles/perf

    #WaterIsLife #Microplastics #PlasticPollution #Anticonsumerism #Degrowth
    #PlasticAlternatives #CleanUpYourMess #BigCorporations #Consumerism #Advertising