divepix - Sargassum Seaweed

Sargassum Seaweed

Aspect:	Ochre serrated leaves attached to a dark brown multiple-branch central stem. More usually seen floating on the surface of the sea, sometimes floating midwater on their slow ascension to the surface.
Population:	Normally not abundant in Guadeloupe, except in the mangrove areas. Invasive waves of such algae have however started to reach the islands, drifting northwards from the southern areas of the Caribbean.
Notable feature:	Each branch carry a number of light ochre berries that are in fact thin-skinned gas-filled bulbs that enable the plant to remain erect and thus facilitate photosythesis, but they also eventually causes it reach the surface.
Environment:	The plant actually grows under the sea surface. The recent outbreak of large floating mats in the Carribean is attributed to a combination of two main factors, namely the over-use of agricultural fertilisers in areas of Central and South American mainland promoting their growth, and a change of sea currents resulting from the climatic change.
Behaviour:	.

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