WEBVTT - From the Vault: The Sargasso Sea 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:07.960 Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. This is 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:11.280 Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and today we're actually 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:13.840 bringing you a vault episode to help get us through 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:16.360 some some people being out of office here and there 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:20.200 over the next couple of weeks. So today's episode originally 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:25.400 published April nine, and it was on the Sargassum Seaweed. 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:28.640 That's right. This is the fun episode, full of fantastic 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:32.800 creatures in a wonderful environment and also a few allusions 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:35.640 to a movie we discussed on Weird How Cinema Z 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:38.279 also known as the Blood Waters of Dr Z. So 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:41.120 if you're interested in that Weird How Cinema episode, you'll 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:44.040 find that in the back catalog. Now, to lay things 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:47.160 out for you, I think we do have a fresh 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:50.040 original episode coming up for you on Thursday of this week. 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:52.440 Then we'll have a few more vaults for you the 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:54.520 week after that, But then we should be back with 0:00:54.600 --> 0:01:01.040 all new things once again. Right, Welcome to Stuff to 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:10.720 Blow Your Mind, production of My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:13.160 to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My name is Robert 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:16.360 Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and today we're going to 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:19.880 go into the wettest of the woods, the saltiest of 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:23.040 the woods. Today the woods are salty, dark and deep. 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:25.760 And and we have promises to keep and miles to 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:28.480 float before we sleep, because we're going to be looking 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:33.920 at a sort of jungle in the ocean. That's right. Uh. 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:37.280 The ocean. Uh, it knows quite a mix of environments, 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:41.400 from rich coral reefs to desolate deep sea waste, from 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:46.560 sunlit shallows to hydrothermal vent heated depths. Marine organisms, of course, 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:50.400 face numerous challenges, but the most basic demands boiled down to, 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:53.520 you know, how not to end, how not to die, 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:58.240 how to prolong? It's era to quote waiting for the barbarians. 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:02.880 But this is especially of your small or your young organism. 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:05.760 You're gonna need food, and you're gonna need shelter. Uh, 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.360 And there's always going to be something trying to eat you. 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:13.160 And for a number of organisms, this is provided by Sargassum, 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:18.160 a genus of brown seaweed of sometimes brown, sometimes described 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.440 as brown and orange um as well. Discuss there a 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:26.600 number of different species here, but uh. Sargassum thrives abundantly 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:28.960 in the ocean. It floats free of the ocean floor 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:33.120 It provides a buoyant, free floating environment that travels on 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:38.920 the tides and offers food, refuge, breeding grounds, nurseries, hunting grounds, 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:42.200 et cetera for a wide variety of organisms. So in 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:47.000 this episode, we're going to discuss the sargassum organisms themselves, 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:50.840 the environment that they offer, some of its benefactors, and 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:54.519 also the problems posed by the so called Great Atlantic 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:57.840 sargassum Belt. Yeah, and that last point is interesting because 0:02:57.840 --> 0:03:00.239 I will say, when you think of sea, do you 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.200 think of the macroalgy world, you don't usually think of 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:10.200 it as something that is particularly economically devastating or or 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:13.800 or even economically all that significant. But but that that 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:16.919 is not the case for sargassum. Yeah, as well. It's 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:19.520 it's it's an interesting topic to explore because in its 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:21.480 present form, it kind of cuts both ways. It's both 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:25.200 vitally important to uh to so many organisms and a 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:28.600 number of organisms that are then important to us, you know, 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:32.760 various um uh you know marine species that we depend on, 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:36.320 various fish and so forth. But then on the other hand, uh, 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:40.280 in an environment that is increasingly out of balance, uh, 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.760 it also poses a threat and it can pose quite 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:46.720 a nuisance, So we'll get into all that. So what 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:50.760 got you thinking about sargassum for today, Rob, Well, it's 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:54.920 because tomorrow's episode of Weird House Cinema will entail sargassum 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:58.520 and casual mention of a few of the creatures, one 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:02.160 creature in particular that calls it home. Um. Well, we'll 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.960 try to save all of that for tomorrow's episode. But 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:08.080 but yeah, that was probably the first place I heard 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:11.680 of sargassum, the Weed of deceit. I was wondering if 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:13.800 we should announce the movie, but maybe we should just 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:16.240 make everyone wait to find out if they're going to 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:19.120 be wondering, Wait, is it a Jaws clone where it's 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:21.839 a big raft of seaweed instead of a shark. Is 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:24.359 it like the Blair Witch Project, but instead of getting 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:26.760 lost in the woods of Virginia or wherever it is, 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:28.839 you get lost in the woods of the ocean of 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:32.359 the Sargasso Sea. Well that the truth will just suddenly 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:35.039 strike out at them and there'll be nothing they can 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:38.360 do about it. Uh So, So tune in tomorrow if 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:41.440 you wish for that. But but for this episode, we're 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:46.479 going to focus on first on on Sargassum. The the organism, 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:49.960 so sargassum glimpsed in the ocean or on the beach, 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:52.600 it might just look like a big heap of brown mess. 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.520 But about closer look you'll notice that it's composed of branches, 0:04:56.800 --> 0:05:00.760 leafy bits, and what looked like plump berries. But they're 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:03.839 not berries, So don't don't pick them. Uh, I mean, 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.320 I guess you could pick them, But what they are 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:11.520 actually are newmaticists. These are air bubbles, um. Uh. They 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:13.800 are part of the organism held that you know, in 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:16.760 in these little cysts that help it excel at floating 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:20.120 around right. Because of course, there are different types of seaweed, 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.240 and some types of seaweed spend their life, you know, 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:26.000 submerged in the water, and they might be say, anchored 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:29.360 down by a type of organ known as a hold fast. 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:32.680 That is somewhat analogous to like the root ball of 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:35.480 a tree that holds it, except in the case of seaweed, 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:37.719 it would hold clumps of seaweed to the ocean floor. 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:40.640 Not entirely analogous, I mean, for many reasons, one of 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:43.560 which is that, uh, is that the seaweed that we're 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:46.160 talking about today is technically not even a plant. It 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:49.119 is a type of macroalgae, which will explain more about. 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:52.320 But in the case of sargassum, Uh, there are types 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:56.240 of sargassum that are free floating organisms that spend much 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.039 or all of their lives just floating on top of 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:01.640 the water to have good access to sunlight, of course, 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:03.880 which they need in order to make their food to survive. 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:05.599 But they've got to just sit there and float on 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:08.000 the top. And they're actually not even anchored to the 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:10.480 bottom at all. They just float out in the open ocean. 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:13.000 And I do just want to stress again that the 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:17.440 genus is Sargassum, and there I believe about a hundred 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:21.880 and fifty species um all sargassum. Uh. The hundred and 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:24.800 fifty number, I got that from the Ocean Foundation, though 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:27.160 curiously I saw some higher numbers out there as well. 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:29.159 I don't know if those were accurate. I'm sticking with 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:32.239 the one, right. So, there are different kinds that you'll find, 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:34.919 especially in different parts of the oceans around the world, 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:38.880 right Uh. And we'll be talking about some key ones though, 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:41.719 that are the most abundant, or at least in the 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:43.159 end of the part of the world that we're gonna 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:45.960 be discussing here. So, as I mentioned, sargassum is a 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:50.239 brown macroalgay, so it is different than plants. And how 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:53.880 exactly is it different than plants? Yeah? I think this 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:56.560 is also important to stress because if you don't think 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:59.520 much about seaweed, you might just you know, you know, 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:01.000 you might just as soon we all right, it's some 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:03.000 sort of plant that grows in the water. Um, And 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:05.279 I think that you might be reasonable to make that 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.599 assumption just based on its physical appearance, and certainly the 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:12.440 word seaweed um. Weeds are plants, yeah, yeah, And and 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:15.080 seaweed is also used informally a lot of times to 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:20.200 describe both the algae and some plant organisms. But the 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:25.800 algae are protests, meaning they are uh eukaryotic organisms, which 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:29.880 are not animals plants or fun gi um so land 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:34.160 plants for their part, they likely derived from fresh water 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:38.200 algae about five hundred million years ago. An algae is, 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:40.080 of course, when we look at the just the root 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:43.760 of the word um, they're synonymous with seaweed, as alga 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:46.960 is the Latin for seaweed. Okay, so if you if 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:49.840 you just think about algae like the most I would 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:51.800 say if I was to go on my own personal 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:54.920 life experience. When I hear the word algae by itself, 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:57.240 what I tend to think of is kind of green 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:02.920 pond scum, you know, kind of very like something floating 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:08.080 on top of a stagnant freshwater body like a pond 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:12.240 or a lake, that is made of tiny little fibers 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:15.760 that just kind of clumped together. Doesn't have any recognizable 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:19.720 macro structures the way larger plants like like flowers or 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:22.520 trees would. But that is not true of all kinds 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:25.559 of algae. These macro algaes that we see in these 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:29.720 types of seaweed, they have more complex structures that are 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:32.280 more like the structures of land plants. So they might 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:34.960 have something that is akin to the stalk of a 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:37.800 land plant and something that is akin to the leaves. 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:42.160 In these cases, they would be algal fronds. Yes, yeah, 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:44.320 so yeah again they look very plant like. You can 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:46.080 easily look at them and say, oh, they're will leave, 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.720 they're the berries. But uh, at any rate, again, a 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:54.079 hundred and fifty different species of sargassum uh, though we're 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:57.200 generally going to be talking about specific dominant species within 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:00.720 given regions. For instance, the two varieties found most often 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:07.120 in the Caribbean are Sargassum natan's and Sargassum fluitans um. 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:09.080 I don't think it would be necessary to remember that, 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:11.280 but just know that again, we're gonna we're probably gonna 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:15.760 refer to sargassum a lot, just generally, but we're gonna 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:19.480 ultimately be dealing with specific species that are dominant within 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:24.719 a given a region. So sargassum reproduces a sexually through fragmentation, 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:27.680 a form of a sexual reproduction in which parents split 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:32.359 into fragments and those fragments then become adults. And furthermore, 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:36.960 the Caribbean sargasm species in particular, and some of these 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:41.480 other varieties that are important are hollow pelagic. That means 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:44.800 that they not only float freely on the ocean, but 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:49.280 they also reproduce vegetatively on the high seas. So they're 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:53.080 they're completely in international waters, you know, they're they're they're 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:55.720 they're a monkey knife fight that the land has no 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:59.199 control over. So yeah, but that would mean that they 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:02.000 don't they can do their whole life cycle without like 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:04.840 anchoring to the bottom at any point or returning to 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:07.840 shore or anything like that. Right, And that's gonna that's 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:10.160 gonna becoming important later on. It get it really gets 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:13.320 in ultimately the idea of sargassum being the wheat of 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:16.640 the seed, so it grows abundantly in the ocean, where 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:21.000 it forms vast floating rafts, as it's sometimes called. Though um, 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:23.440 I don't think these are rafts in the sense that 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:25.840 you could, you know, be a shipwrecked sailor at sea 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:28.240 and climb on top of it or hoist a sail 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:32.360 on it. But essentially just big rafts, big floating chunks 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:36.040 of of the sargassum, all tingled together, stretching in some 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:39.720 cases for miles, and these form in areas of converging 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:42.720 surface currents u and in doing so they create a 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:46.200 vital environment, like we alluded to earlier. But on top 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:49.760 of the environment, the organism itself provides food. According to 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:54.280 the Ocean Foundation, sargassum contributes and estimated six of the 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:57.880 total primary production in the upper one meter of the 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:01.199 water column. Okay, so that would refer to like different 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:03.680 different stages of the food chain. So you've got the 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:06.600 primary producers that are familiar to us. These are generally 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:10.560 photosynthesizing organisms, like like plants on land, you know, that 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:13.960 absorbs sunlight to power the chemical reactions that make their bodies. 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:17.760 And then you've got the secondary uh, characters on the 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:20.720 food chain that eat the primary producers. You know that 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:23.240 that eat plants to survive, the same thing is true 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:25.640 in the ocean. So you've got these primary producers that 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:27.840 are at least near the top of the water column 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.640 are going to be basing their their energy cycle on 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:33.679 sunlight to to produce these molecules that make up their 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:36.800 body that that in turn are eaten by other organisms 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:39.400 that are the sort of the secondary organisms in that 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:41.599 food chain. Yeah, it's it's like you said at the 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:45.160 very beginning, this is the forest that we're discussing. Like 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:47.400 in a way, don't think of the ocean itself as 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:50.079 the forest. Think of the think of the sargassum. These 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:52.880 going to these rafts of sargassum as the forest. Because 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:55.040 the ocean, as we've discussed in the show before, the 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:57.600 ocean can be a wasteland. The ocean can be a 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:02.199 desert and um and in desert, the sargassum can be 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:05.640 the oasis um. It serves as a place of refuge 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:09.040 for various creatures as well as again breeding grounds nurseries. 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:11.720 In fact, it's the primary nursery for a number of 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:15.679 important to human to humans, especially fish species like the 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:18.880 Ma ma. And given all of this activity that's going 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:21.160 on at the various creatures that call it home, sometimes 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:25.000 exclusively uh, their home, it's also prime stalking zone for 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:29.240 many marine predators, So both sargasm predators who live there 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:32.000 and have evolved a thrive in its environment, but also 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:36.640 general marine apex predators that are drawn in by the by, 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:39.920 by the riches there by the biodiversity. Uh, let's see 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:42.680 if a few other just sort of general um facts 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:48.280 about sargassum. It can survive wide temperature and salinity variances, 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.720 and after about a year, those new maticists that help 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:55.000 it to remain buoyant, uh, they lose their buoyancy and 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:57.760 bits of sargassum will then sink to the sea floor, 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:01.640 where it will actually been up providing carbon for various 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:04.560 deep sea creatures. So it's not only an important energy 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:07.000 source for the sunlit shallow regions of the sea, but 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:09.560 for the dark depths as well. I guess, serving as 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:13.240 kind of like that that nutrient rainfall that we've talked 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:16.760 about before that rains upon the deep and indeed when 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:20.200 it washes up on the shore. Uh. I guess for 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:21.679 for the most part we're talking about it. If it's 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:26.520 washing up in manageable quantities, um, it can actually nourish beaches, 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:30.240 It can prevent sand from blowing away. Uh. And when 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:32.480 it washes up, it also serves as a food source 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:36.920 for various coastal species. Um. And not only is it 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:39.920 generally not harmful to humans, it's actually edible. More than that, 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:43.200 in a bit, uh, there are also possible biofuel and 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:47.440 pharmaceutical possibilities for sargassum um. We'll get into some of 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:49.600 the drawbacks later on, but but one of the interesting 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:52.280 things here is that like the idea of just sargassum 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:56.719 piling up on the beach again in manageable quality quant quantities, 0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:01.600 it does bring to mind that sort of contest, that 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:05.920 disagreement at times over what constitutes the beach or what 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:08.319 the beach should look like. You know, should there be 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:12.600 anything on the beach other than um human strolling and 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:15.560 enjoying their vacation. You know, uh, you know some of 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:17.800 the some of the really beautiful beaches out there, a 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:20.560 lot of times they are manicured, you know, things like 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:23.600 seaweed are collected regularly in order to have that sort 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:27.240 of Hollywood beach presented. Uh. And in many cases there's 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.720 an argument to me, may then no debris would be 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:33.200 on the beach naturally, and it in the right quantities, 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:36.560 it can be important to keeping the sand from washing away, 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.240 keeping the beach from eroding, etcetera. I can see the 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:41.240 point of view that would say I'm okay with the 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:46.160 beach that has natural debris, but not unmanageable amounts of 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:49.360 natural debris or artificial debris. I mean you certainly you 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:51.480 know you don't want too many beer cans. That's going 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:54.040 to kind of ruin your beach experience. Yeah, nobody wants 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:56.200 to step on a beer can on the beach, but likewise, 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:58.680 nobody really wants to have to walk over a tin 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:02.280 foot high a mound of urgassum like dead, rotting seaweed. 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:06.280 Right right now, Um, we're gonna be getting into the 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:12.320 history of humanities awareness and understanding of sargassum uh here. 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:14.760 And the first bit I want to share is that 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:20.000 you know, certainly early sailors described sargassum mats, and one 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:25.760 individual in particular, Christopher Columbus UH This was in when 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:30.000 abundance sargassum fooled Columbus into thinking he was approaching land. 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:34.040 And I couldn't find anything that really defined this for me. 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.640 I don't know if you did, Joe, but I assume 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:39.560 this is what the term the weed of Deceit refers 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:44.080 to the idea that you might encounter sargassum mats out 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:46.560 at sea and you could make the same air that 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:50.480 Columbus made and think, oh, look at all the seaweed. Uh, 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:53.000 there's it's thick. It's everywhere. We must be really close 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:55.920 to land at this point. Sure. I don't know that 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:58.280 that's where the name comes from, but that makes sense. Yeah. 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:01.840 So on September six, ain't Columbus road, And this is 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:04.680 of course translated quote. We have begun to see large 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:07.600 patches of yellowish green weed, which seems to have been 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:10.600 torn away from some island or reef. I know better 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:13.480 because I make the mainland to be farther on. And 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:15.680 then on September sevent I saw a great deal of 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:18.200 weed today from rocks that lie to the west. I 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:20.400 take this to mean we are near land. The weed 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:23.000 resembles a grass, except that it has long stalks and 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:25.880 shoots and is loaded with fruit like the like the 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:29.200 Mastic tree. Um. So, uh, you know, I guess on 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:31.400 the on September six, it sounds like he was like, no, 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:33.560 you can't fool me. We're not that close to land. 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:37.080 But on September seventeen, he said, nope, we are close 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:39.320 to land. Look at all this seaweed. I had to 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:41.600 look up what the mastic tree is because I didn't know, 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:46.680 but it's the but it's known as Pistachia lentiscus. Ah. Yeah, 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:48.120 I looked up a picture of it as well, and 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:52.360 I do see some some prominent little round fruits that. Yeah, 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:54.880 the little berries that I assume that's that's what he 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:58.200 was comparing to the what what are actually new maticists? Yea. 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:01.080 As we mentioned earlier, the neumatis are these little tiny 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:05.040 berry shaped gas bladders that helped the the seaweed float. 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:07.320 But in this case, yeah, it looks kind of like 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:09.440 these berries in a tree that would have been familiar 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:12.360 to Columbus. I think the looking at the Mastic tree 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:22.280 apparently is useful for its resin thank so. A special 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:26.560 note is the Sargasso Sea. This is a truly vast 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:30.919 patch of sargassum. According to the Ocean Foundation, the Sargasso 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:35.280 Sea is sometimes referred to as the Atlantic Golden Rainforest 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:39.560 UH and the islands quote unquote uh in the Sargasso 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:43.120 Sea can be acres across, while the regions they occupy 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:47.199 can stretch for miles. Right now, the Sargasso Sea is 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:51.239 interesting because it is the only real sea in the 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:55.480 world that doesn't have any land boundaries. The Sargasso Sea 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:59.280 is a sea within an ocean. It's uh, this patch 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:02.080 in the mid all of the Northern Atlantic. Basically, it's 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:04.639 just a large patch if you were to look at 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:07.840 the eastern coast of the United States, uh and you 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:10.560 know in the Caribbean maybe with the bottom edge down 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:14.200 around like Cuba and uh in Puerto Rico, and then 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:18.560 going up along the the coast of North America up 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:22.520 towards Newfoundland, and then you just extend out east from there. 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:25.160 There's this big patch in the middle of the Atlantic 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:28.520 Ocean which is known as the Sargasso Sea. Now we 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.520 should be clear that it is not like blanket covered 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:34.520 in sargassum seaweed, but there are It is known for 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:38.919 having large rafts of sargassum seaweed within it, and the 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:42.040 Sargasso Sea is interesting in a number of ways. One 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:45.239 thing about it is it's known for having UH, for 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:48.919 being a place where ships can easily become be calmed, 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:52.680 and this is a a risk that people who are 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:55.760 not very familiar with sea voyages might not think about 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:58.880 very often. But back in the days of sailing, one 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:01.199 thing that was really danger riss is if the winds 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:03.600 die down and you can't say, you know, there's nothing 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:06.359 to propel your ship in the direction where it needs 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:11.080 to go. All throughout the the Atlantic around the Sargasso Sea, 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:13.920 there tend to be these wind currents. You know they're 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:16.720 there are winds that will blow you UH, that will 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:19.040 blow you east to west, down from the from the 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:23.280 coast of Africa, down towards UH, towards the Caribbean, and 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:26.159 towards the northern coast of South America. And then there 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:29.120 are winds and currents in the ocean that lead up 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:32.560 north along the east coast of North America. And then 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:34.679 if you go up north from there, there are winds 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:37.480 and currents that will lead you back towards the east 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:40.879 from the west. So essentially you create this box in 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:44.440 the middle of the North Atlantic that is surrounded by 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.120 currents that go in a circle around it, and this 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:51.320 is often known as the North Atlantic Gyre. Now, anyone 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:56.520 who's ever watched, you know, any number of sailing movies 0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:59.040 or TV shows, or any TV show that includes like 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:03.520 a a voyage by sale across the ocean, This is 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:06.560 a This is almost a standard bottle episode right here, 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:09.800 where where suddenly the ship uh is in a is 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:12.199 in a region where there's just no no wind at all, 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:14.919 nothing could propel them, and everybody just sets around and 0:20:14.960 --> 0:20:19.160 gets like superstitious and uh a little bit crazy until 0:20:19.160 --> 0:20:22.119 the wind picks back up and saves everybody right. And 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:24.840 you can imagine like if you actually were traveling across 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:27.400 the Atlantic and you didn't know what you were what 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:28.760 you were going to see, or what was going to 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:31.639 be out there. Maybe you'd heard some tales of sea monsters. 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:34.439 Who knows. You get into an area where there is 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:37.199 less wind than you're used to than when you traveled 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:39.880 into the area, you are suddenly be calmed. It becomes 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:41.760 hard to travel and you're just kind of stuck there 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:44.200 in the water. And then you start seeing these weird 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:47.320 rafts floating around in the middle of the ocean. Towards you. 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:50.560 I can imagine that's pretty odd, YEA. And in fact, 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:52.960 we maybe don't have to imagine, because there are some 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:56.840 historical sources that that may well be referring to this. 0:20:56.920 --> 0:20:59.199 I guess it's debatable whether they're referring to this or 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:01.760 something else. But uh, I wanted to look at the 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:06.960 question how long has the Sargasso Sea been written about? Uh. 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:10.320 It gets its current name from Portuguese sailors. I believe 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:12.440 of like you know, the the early modern period, or 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:15.400 actually I think before that, from like the fifteenth century. 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:18.200 But but I was looking around to see how far 0:21:18.359 --> 0:21:22.000 back written accounts of the Sargasso c go. And I 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:25.760 found an interesting, possibly applicable bit of history in a 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:31.920 book by the British archaeologist and Oxford professor Sir Barry Cunliffe. Uh. 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:35.240 And the book is called on the Ocean, the Mediterranean 0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:39.240 and Atlantic from Prehistory to a d fIF hundred from 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:43.760 Oxford University Press in And this is in a chapter 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:48.600 where Cunliffe is writing about records of exploration west of 0:21:48.680 --> 0:21:52.040 the Pillars of Heracles. So the Pillars of Heracles today 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:55.000 are understood to refer to the Strait of Gibraltar, that 0:21:55.160 --> 0:22:00.320 gap between between Morocco and the Iberian Peninsula, where you 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:03.000 can just go through this narrow passage to get out 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:06.320 of the Mediterranean Sea and into the broad Atlantic Ocean. 0:22:06.720 --> 0:22:10.600 And so he's writing about the exploration beyond this point 0:22:10.680 --> 0:22:14.879 out to the west by the ancient cultures of North Africa, Europe, 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:17.840 and Central Asia. And for for most of these cultures, 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:20.680 the Mediterranean Sea was of course their bread and butter. 0:22:20.720 --> 0:22:23.120