The largest seaweed bloom ever detected spanned the Atlantic in 2018

Satellite data revealed increasing amounts of Sargassum algae in the ocean since 2011

Sargassum seaweed

FLOATING ISLANDS  Sargassum seaweed (shown off of Florida’s Big Pine Key) can form vast mats in the ocean that shelter everything from turtles to eels to fish. But blooms of the algae are becoming more extensive, posing a problem for coastlines.

Brian Lapointe/Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute

During the summer, vast, floating islands of Sargassum algae can blanket entire parts of the tropical Atlantic Ocean.