What causes Sargasso?

Data gathered over the past decade has revealed the likely causes of these seaweed invasions: Saharan dust clouds, warming temperatures and the growing human nitrogen footprint. Just as nutrients feed red tide blooms, they feed sargassum, which thrives in warmer water.

Is seaweed poisonous to humans?

While seaweeds are classified as macroalgae. There are currently no known poisonous or toxic seaweeds in existence. Incredibly there are only 14 reported deaths ever linked to eating seaweed, and the reports state that it’s not the seaweed itself but bacteria that had grown upon the seaweed.

How do you control Sargassum?

Sargassum in shallow waters can be removed “using reinforced fishing nets – either toed by light boats or by hand in very shallow waters. On Isla Bonita, Belize, volunteers devised a unique method of using a seine net to harvest the floating sargassum out of the water” (Hinds et al, 2016).

What Sargasso means?

Definition of sargasso 1 : gulfweed, sargassum. 2 : a mass of floating vegetation and especially sargassums.

Is Sargassum harmful to humans?

In the water, Sargassum can be harmless to humans, but once it lands on the beach and starts decomposing, it begins to release hydrogen sulfide gas, or H2S. Colorless, poisonous and with an unpleasant rotten-egg odor, the H2S effect is based on how much is inhaled, and for how long. Exposure to very high concentrations can quickly lead to death.

Why is Sargassum dying in the Caribbean?

It is natural for sargassum to eventually blow westward and die, and end up on the beaches of the Caribbean, from South Florida to Aruba. This is part of sargassum’s life cycle, and Hu compares it to leaves on deciduous trees turning brown and falling in the autumn.

Is Sargasso Sea the most unusual sea in the world?

“So yes, in the long-term history, this is very unusual.” Sargassum gives its name to the Sargasso Sea, located in the Atlantic, north and east of the Caribbean. It is a truly unusual place, the only location given a proper “Something Sea” name but with no land boundaries.

What causes Sargassum to grow so fast?

The nutrient run-off from industrial and agricultural fertilizers such as phosphates and nitrogen into the sea seems to be causing the Sargassum to grow even quicker. The Sargassum seaweed originates from the Sargasso Sea, which exists exclusively in the Atlantic Ocean (specifically, in the North Atlantic Gyre),…