DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. (AP) - It looks dirty and muddy, a brown
mass of weeds with gas-filled berries that allow it to float on the
Gulf of Mexico's waters. Sometimes it washes ashore, getting caught
in the toes of barefoot beachgoers or stuck to the bottom of
flip-flops.
It appears to be just another sea plant.
But this Sargassum algae - sometimes called sea holly or Gulf
weed - is key to hundreds of species of marine life in the Gulf.
Now, the oil is threatening to suffocate it, dealing a blow to
fisheries and the ecosystem that scientists say may take years to
recover. And as the algae dies in the Gulf, less of the vital plant
will reach the Sargasso Sea - some 3,000 miles away through the
loop current - potentially harming that ecosystem as well.
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Oil may suffocate vital 'sea holly' in Gulf
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Alabama's13.com
Published: June 22, 2010
Published: June 22, 2010
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Alabama,
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