A giant bloom of seaweed in the Atlantic Ocean made headlines in recent weeks, in no small part due to its prodigious size and the fact that it may harbor microbial life potentially harmful to humans.
The seaweed in question is called Sargassum, with patches of this brown algae currently stretching across the Atlantic, from the Gulf of Mexico to the western coast of Africa, with researchers from the University of South Florida estimating its current mass at about 13 million tons.
With patches of this seaweed already washing up on the Sunshine State’s beaches, a new study published in the journal Water Research last month warns that bacteria in the genus Vibrio, potentially dangerous to humans, appear to thrive in the Sargassum.
Marine biologist Linda Amaral-Zettler from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, who co-authored the study in question, told media that the Vibrio “can and does colonize both plastic and Sargassum,” and that this bacteria “can carry genes that are potentially pathogenic."
"There have been some pretty horrific infections caused by Vibrio. Their flesh-eating potential is rare, but it's real," she said as quoted by one media outlet.
While Amaral-Zettler went on to suggest that beachgoers “need to be responsible” and realize the hazards involved when dealing with Sargassum, another scientist who was not involved in this research pointed out that many Vibrio species are actually harmless.
The scientist, microbial ecologist Hidetoshi Urakawa from the Florida Gulf Coast University, noted that the aforementioned study apparently did not find in the Sargassum samples any “highly pathogenic species of Vibrio that typically infect humans,” as the media outlet put it, though he did suggest that the public should be aware of the potential danger associated with this seaweed.
Jae Williams, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health, has also reportedly said that people “do not need to go play or recreate in the Sargassum,” and that they should stay away from this algae if they see it.