A massive seaweed blob packed with bacteria and plastic could be generating a "pathogen storm" in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, a new study has found. Some news outlets have said that some of the blob-borne bacteria may be a "flesh-eating" species known as Vibrio vulnificus, but experts told Live Science that is not the case.
Originating in the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean, brown algae known as Sargassum have become a growing problem for beachgoers around the world in recent years, as large chunks of the algae have washed ashore. NASA projects that this year's Sargassum seaweed bloom along the Caribbean and eastern Florida coastlines will be the largest ever recorded, with the bulk of it arriving in June and July.
