Deadly algal bloom in South Australia’s Coorong an environmental ‘eye opener’, ecologist says

Dead and dying polychaete worms at the southern end of Coorong’s North Lagoon. Photograph: Glen Hill

When South Australia’s algal bloom arrived in the Coorong, it stained the water like strong tea before turning it into a slurry of dead worms.

Many had hoped the storm in late May would break up the bloom of Karenia mikimotoi algae, which has killed more than 200 different marine species. Instead, high tides swept the algae into the Coorong, an internationally significant Ramsar wetland at the mouth of the Murray River.