The giant seaweed blob that has been piling up on beaches on the Florida coast — posing risks to sea life, human respiratory health and tourism — could carry an added threat: illness-inducing bacteria.
Sargassum, a specific variety of seaweed, has long formed large blooms in the Atlantic Ocean, and scientists have been tracking massive accumulations since 2011. But at twice the width of the United States, this year’s bloom is the largest ever, collectively spanning more than 5,000 miles from the shores of Africa to the Gulf of Mexico.
And Vibrio vulnificus bacteria would most likely be in any brackish water on or around the sargassum rather than in the sargassum itself, Williams said. “It’s not that the seaweed itself is harmful to humans, but it creates an environment that can be harmful to humans,” Williams said. As sargassum moves through the sea, it picks up everything in its path, he added, and that can include garbage, debris or decomposing or dead marine life.
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