Remember sargassum? Florida could see record amounts this summer
Stinky, unsightly and potentially harmful – there are a litany of adjectives used to describe the naturally-occurring type of macroalgae called Sargassum, and none of them are positive.
Sargassum has always been around, but it hit the widespread public consciousness in 2023 when blobs of the smelly seaweed piled up on Florida beaches and islands across the Caribbean Sea.
The University of South Florida College of Marine Science estimated the sargassum blob to be around 13 million tons – a record amount – in March 2023. USF researchers are now sounding off about a new sargassum record broken in April.
USF College of Marine Science Professor Dr. Chuanmin Hu told FOX 13 on Monday that the latest data indicated sargassum levels were over 200% higher than they were last year.
Should you be worried about sargassum at your next visit to the beach? Probably not. Here's what to know about the latest sargassum bloom.
Sargassum is essentially just brown macroalgae, which is more commonly known to us as seaweed. There are hundreds of different species of sargassum, according to USF. The two most dominant are called sargassum fluitans and sargassum natans.
The smelly seaweed accumulates in a specific area of the North Atlantic Ocean where four currents converge into a sort of ocean gyre. The region is called the Sargasso Sea. However, because sargassum gathers here to form a monstrous, 5,000-mile-wide blob, the area is also called the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt.
Whether it's the smell or simply the foreign nature of it, sargassum has developed a reputation for being toxic or dangerous. USF says that it's safe for most people.
Sargassum is not toxic unless it is rotten, in which case it can release hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. USF says that even in this case, it would primarily affect people with underlying respiratory issues.
Most people can safely swim around sargassum and ignore small amounts on beaches.
Sargassum has been around for so long that Christopher Columbus wrote about it on his voyage to America. Sargassum seaweed has washed ashore beaches before, but something changed in the past two decades.
Since 2011, large swathes of sargassum began migrating into the Caribbean Sea nearly every summer. Climate variability and other unnatural and natural processes are scientist's best guess at what has caused the sudden surge of sargassum.
Sargassum typically starts washing up on beaches in March and persists through the summer. Florida doesn't usually start seeing any until mid-to-late May.
USF's latest sargassum outlook showed that amounts in April were 200% higher than last year and 150% higher than the previous historical record. It's also 40% higher than the all-time high set in June 2022, making 2025 a new record year.
Like in previous years, you can expect to see sargassum float into the west Caribbean Sea before moving into the Gulf through the Yucatan.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Florida likely to see record sargassum as April breaks all-time record
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