1 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:07,720 Speaker 1: Hey, are you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 2 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:10,600 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and 3 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:12,639 Speaker 1: it's Saturday. Time to go into the vault for an 4 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 1: older episode of the show. This one originally published April nine, 5 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:21,439 Speaker 1: and it's about seaweed. But you never knew seaweed could 6 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:24,160 Speaker 1: be so interesting and such a such a tangled web 7 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 1: of mystery. Yeah, not just the seaweed itself, but the 8 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:33,840 Speaker 1: various organisms that call that seaweed home. Welcome to Stuff 9 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind, the production of My Heart Radio. Hey, 10 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:45,640 Speaker 1: welcome to Stuff to Blow your mind. My name is 11 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And today we're going 12 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:52,600 Speaker 1: to go into the wettest of the woods, the saltiest 13 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:55,880 Speaker 1: of the woods. Today. The woods are salty, dark and deep, 14 00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:58,960 Speaker 1: and we have promises to keep and miles to float 15 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 1: before we sleep, because we're going to be looking at 16 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:06,759 Speaker 1: a sort of jungle in the ocean. That's right. Uh. 17 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:10,120 Speaker 1: The ocean. Uh, it knows quite a mix of environments, 18 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: from rich coral reefs to desolate deep sea waste, from 19 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:19,160 Speaker 1: sunlit shallows to hydrothermal vent heated depths, marine organisms, of 20 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: course face numerous challenges, but the most basic demands boiled 21 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: down to, you know, how not to end, how not 22 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: to die, how to prolong. It's era to quote waiting 23 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:33,280 Speaker 1: for the barbarians, But this is especially true if you're 24 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:36,920 Speaker 1: small or your young organism. You're gonna need food and 25 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 1: you're gonna need shelter. Uh, And there's always gonna be 26 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:43,280 Speaker 1: something trying to eat you. And for a number of organisms, 27 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:48,520 Speaker 1: this is provided by Sargassum, a genus of brown seaweed 28 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: of sometimes brown, sometimes described as brown and orange um. 29 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:55,720 Speaker 1: As we'll discuss there a number of different species here, 30 00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:00,800 Speaker 1: but uh, Sargassum thrives abundantly in the shan. It floats 31 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 1: free of the ocean floor. It provides a buoyant, free 32 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 1: floating environment that travels on the tides and offers food, refuge, 33 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: breeding grounds, nurseries, hunting grounds, et cetera for a wide 34 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:16,160 Speaker 1: variety of organisms. So in this episode, we're going to 35 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 1: discuss the sargassum organisms themselves, the environment that they offer, 36 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 1: some of its benefactors, and also the problems posed by 37 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: the so called Great Atlantic sargassum belt. Yeah, and that 38 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:31,640 Speaker 1: last point is interesting because I will say, when you 39 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,919 Speaker 1: think of of seaweed, you think of the macroalgay world, 40 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:37,960 Speaker 1: you don't usually think of it as something that is 41 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: particularly economically devastating or or even economically all that significant. 42 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 1: But but that that is not the case for sargassum. Yeah, 43 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: as well, it's it's it's an interesting topic to explore 44 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:53,920 Speaker 1: because in its present form, it kind of cuts both ways. 45 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:57,920 Speaker 1: It's both vitally important to uh to so many organisms, 46 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:00,600 Speaker 1: and a number of organisms that are then important to 47 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:04,800 Speaker 1: us you know, various um uh, you know marine species 48 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:07,680 Speaker 1: that we depend on, various fish and so forth. But 49 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:10,520 Speaker 1: then on the other hand, uh, in an environment that 50 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:14,799 Speaker 1: is increasingly out of balance, uh, it also poses a threat, 51 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 1: and it can pose quite a nuisance. So we'll get 52 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: into all that. So what got you thinking about sarcassum 53 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: for today, Rob, Well, it's because tomorrow's episode of Weird 54 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: How Cinema will entail sargassum and casual mention of a 55 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:32,720 Speaker 1: few of the creatures, one creature in particular that calls 56 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 1: at home. Um. Well, we'll try to save all of 57 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:39,640 Speaker 1: that for tomorrow's episode. But but yeah, that was probably 58 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: the first place I heard of sargassum. The weed of deceit. 59 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 1: I was wondering if we should announce the movie, but 60 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: maybe we should just make everyone wait to find out 61 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: they're going to be wondering. Wait, is it a Jaws 62 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:53,760 Speaker 1: clone where it's a big raft of seaweed instead of 63 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 1: a shark. Is it like the Blair Witch Project, but 64 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:59,000 Speaker 1: instead of getting lost in the woods of Virginia or 65 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: wherever it is, you get lost in the woods of 66 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 1: the ocean of the Sargasso Sea. Well that the truth 67 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: will just suddenly strike out at them and there'll be 68 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 1: nothing they can do about it. Uh So, So tune 69 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: in tomorrow if you wish for that. But but for 70 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: this episode, we're going to focus on first on on sargassum, 71 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 1: the the organism. So sargassum glimpsed in the ocean or 72 00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:24,119 Speaker 1: on the beach, it might just look like a big 73 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,920 Speaker 1: heap of brown mess. But about closer look, you'll notice 74 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: that it's composed of branches, leafy bits, and what looked 75 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:35,160 Speaker 1: like plump berries. But they're not berries, So don't don't 76 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 1: pick them. Um. I mean, I guess you could pick them. 77 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 1: But what they are actually are new maticists. These are 78 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 1: air bubbles. Um. Uh, they are part of the organism 79 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:47,840 Speaker 1: held that you know, in in these little cysts that 80 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,479 Speaker 1: help it excel at floating around, right, Because of course, 81 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:54,360 Speaker 1: there are different types of seaweed, and some types of 82 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 1: seaweed spend their life, you know, submerged in the water, 83 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 1: and they might be anchored down by a type of 84 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 1: organ known as a hold fast that is somewhat analogous 85 00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:06,720 Speaker 1: to like the root ball of a tree that holds it, 86 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:09,280 Speaker 1: except in the case of seaweed, it would hold clumps 87 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 1: of seaweed to the ocean floor. Not entirely analogous, I mean, 88 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: for many reasons, one of which is that uh, is 89 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: that the seaweed that we're talking about today is technically 90 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 1: not even a plant. It is a type of macroalgae, 91 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:24,480 Speaker 1: which will explain more about. But in the case of sargassum, Uh, 92 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:28,280 Speaker 1: there are types of sargassum that are free floating organisms 93 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 1: that spend much or all of their lives just floating 94 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:34,120 Speaker 1: on top of the water to have good access to sunlight, 95 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:35,920 Speaker 1: of course, which they need in order to make their 96 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:37,920 Speaker 1: food to survive. But they've got to just sit there 97 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:40,280 Speaker 1: and float on the top, and they're actually not even 98 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 1: anchored to the bottom at all, They just float out 99 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 1: in the open ocean. And I do just want to 100 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:48,840 Speaker 1: stress again that the genus is sargassum, and there I 101 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:54,040 Speaker 1: believe about a hundred and fifty species um all sargassum. Uh. 102 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:56,279 Speaker 1: The hundred and fifty number, I got that from the 103 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:59,440 Speaker 1: Ocean Foundation, though curiously I saw some higher numbers out 104 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:01,480 Speaker 1: there as well. I don't know if those were accurate. 105 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:03,600 Speaker 1: I'm sticking with the one fifty, right. So there are 106 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: different kinds that you'll find, especially in different parts of 107 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:09,880 Speaker 1: the oceans around the world, right. Uh. And we'll be 108 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:13,440 Speaker 1: talking about some key ones though, that are the most abundant, 109 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:15,560 Speaker 1: or at least in the the part of the world 110 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:18,000 Speaker 1: that we're gonna be discussing here. So, as I mentioned, 111 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:21,279 Speaker 1: sargassum is a brown macro algae, So it is different 112 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:26,280 Speaker 1: than plants. And how exactly is it different than plants? Yeah, 113 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:28,480 Speaker 1: I think this is also important to stress because if 114 00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:32,160 Speaker 1: you don't think much about seaweed, you might just you know, 115 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:33,839 Speaker 1: you know, you might just assume, well, right, it's some 116 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:35,840 Speaker 1: sort of plant that grows in the water. Um. And 117 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:38,120 Speaker 1: I think that you might be reasonable to make that 118 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:41,440 Speaker 1: assumption just based on its physical appearance, and certainly the 119 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:45,880 Speaker 1: word seaweed um weeds are plants, yeah, and and seaweed 120 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:48,400 Speaker 1: is also used informally a lot of times to describe 121 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:53,600 Speaker 1: both the algae and some plant organisms. But the algae 122 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:58,800 Speaker 1: are protests, meaning they are uh eukaryotic organisms, which are 123 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:03,159 Speaker 1: not animals plants or fun guy um so land plants 124 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: for their part, they likely derived from freshwater algae about 125 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:11,680 Speaker 1: five million years ago. An algae is, of course, when 126 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:13,880 Speaker 1: we look at the just the root of the word um, 127 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:18,920 Speaker 1: they're synonymous with seaweed, as alga is the Latin for seaweed. Okay, 128 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 1: so if you if you just think about algae like 129 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: the most I would say, if I was to go 130 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:26,360 Speaker 1: on my own personal life experience, when I hear the 131 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:28,880 Speaker 1: word algae by itself, what I tend to think of 132 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 1: is kind of green pond scum, you know, kind of 133 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:38,200 Speaker 1: very like a something floating on top of a stagnant 134 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: freshwater body like a pond or a lake, that is 135 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:46,480 Speaker 1: made of tiny little fibers that just kind of clumped together, 136 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:51,160 Speaker 1: doesn't have any recognizable macro structures the way larger plants 137 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:54,240 Speaker 1: like like flowers or trees would. But that is not 138 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 1: true of all kinds of algae. These macro algaees that 139 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:01,080 Speaker 1: we see in these types of seaweed, they have more 140 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:04,680 Speaker 1: complex structures that are more like the structures of land plants. 141 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 1: So they might have something that is akin to the 142 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:09,559 Speaker 1: stalk of a land plant and something that is akin 143 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:15,000 Speaker 1: to the leaves. In these cases, they would be algal fronds. Yes, yeah, 144 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 1: so yeah, again they look very plant like. You can 145 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 1: easily look at them and say, oh, they're they'll leave, 146 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:22,560 Speaker 1: they're the berries. But uh, at any rate, again, a 147 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty different species of sargassum. Uh, Though we're 148 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 1: generally gonna be talking about specific dominant species within given regions. 149 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 1: For instance, the two varieties found most often in the 150 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:40,520 Speaker 1: Caribbean are Sargassum Natan's and Sargassum fluitans um. I don't 151 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:42,240 Speaker 1: think it will be necessary to remember that, but just 152 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 1: know that again, we're gonna we're probably gonna refer to 153 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:49,720 Speaker 1: sargassum a lot, just generally, but we're gonna ultimately be 154 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:52,600 Speaker 1: dealing with specific species that are dominant within a given 155 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:57,720 Speaker 1: a region. So sargassum reproduces a sexually through fragmentation, a 156 00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:01,400 Speaker 1: form of a sexual reproduction in which and split into fragments, 157 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:07,079 Speaker 1: and those fragments then become adults. And furthermore, the Caribbean 158 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:10,439 Speaker 1: sargasm species in particular, and some of these other varieties 159 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:14,720 Speaker 1: that are important are hollow pelagic. That means that they 160 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:18,120 Speaker 1: not only float freely on the ocean, but they also 161 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:23,360 Speaker 1: reproduce vegetatively on the high seas. So they're they're completely 162 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:26,199 Speaker 1: in international waters, you know, they're they're they're they're a 163 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 1: monkey knife fight that the land has no control over. 164 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:32,520 Speaker 1: So yeah, but that would mean that they don't they 165 00:09:32,559 --> 00:09:35,840 Speaker 1: can do their whole life cycle without like anchoring to 166 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:38,240 Speaker 1: the bottom at any point or returning to shore or 167 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:41,320 Speaker 1: anything like that. Right, And that's gonna that's gonna become 168 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 1: important later on. It get it really gets in ultimately 169 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:46,560 Speaker 1: the idea of sargassum being the weed of the seed, 170 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:49,960 Speaker 1: so it grows abundantly in the ocean, where it forms 171 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:54,040 Speaker 1: vast floating rafts, as it's sometimes called. Though um, I 172 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:56,640 Speaker 1: don't think these are rafts in the sense that you could, 173 00:09:56,960 --> 00:09:59,160 Speaker 1: you know, be a shipwrecked sailor at sea and climb 174 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:01,440 Speaker 1: on top of it or hoist a sale on it, 175 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:06,040 Speaker 1: but essentially just big rafts big floating chunks of of 176 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:10,360 Speaker 1: the sargassum, all tingled together, stretching in some cases for miles, 177 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:14,200 Speaker 1: and these form and areas of converging surface currents, and 178 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:17,079 Speaker 1: in doing so they create a vital environment like we 179 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:20,440 Speaker 1: alluded to earlier. But on top of the environment, the 180 00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:24,800 Speaker 1: organism itself provides food. According to the Ocean Foundation, sargassum 181 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:29,120 Speaker 1: contributes and estimated six of the total primary production in 182 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:32,160 Speaker 1: the upper one meter of the water column. Okay, so 183 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:35,280 Speaker 1: that would refer to like different different stages of the 184 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:38,000 Speaker 1: food chains. So you've got the primary producers that are 185 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:41,840 Speaker 1: familiar to us. These are generally photosynthesizing organisms, like like 186 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:44,720 Speaker 1: plants on land, you know that absorbs sunlight to power 187 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:47,280 Speaker 1: the chemical reactions that make their bodies. And then you've 188 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:51,240 Speaker 1: got the secondary uh, characters on the food chain that 189 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:54,440 Speaker 1: eat the primary producers. You know that that eat plants 190 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:56,680 Speaker 1: to survive. The same thing is true in the ocean. 191 00:10:56,720 --> 00:10:59,440 Speaker 1: So you've got these primary producers that are at least 192 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:01,000 Speaker 1: near the top of the water column are going to 193 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:04,720 Speaker 1: be basing their their energy cycle on sunlight to to 194 00:11:04,840 --> 00:11:07,320 Speaker 1: produce these molecules that make up their body that that 195 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:10,120 Speaker 1: in turn are eaten by other organisms that are the 196 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:13,480 Speaker 1: sort of the secondary organisms in that food chain. Yeah, 197 00:11:13,559 --> 00:11:15,559 Speaker 1: it's it's like you said at the very beginning, this 198 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:18,680 Speaker 1: is the forest that we're discussing. Like in a way, 199 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:21,000 Speaker 1: don't think of the ocean itself as the forest. Think 200 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:23,720 Speaker 1: of the think of the sargassum. These are these rafts 201 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:26,480 Speaker 1: of sargassum as the forest. Because the ocean, as we've 202 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:29,480 Speaker 1: discussed in the show before, the ocean can be a wasteland. 203 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:32,720 Speaker 1: The ocean can be a desert and um and in 204 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 1: that desert, the sargassum can be the oasis um. It 205 00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:39,760 Speaker 1: serves as a place of refuge for various creatures as 206 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:42,760 Speaker 1: well as again breeding grounds nurseries. In fact, it's the 207 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:46,920 Speaker 1: primary nursery for a number of important to human to humans, 208 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:50,480 Speaker 1: especially fish species like the Mai mai. And given all 209 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:52,760 Speaker 1: of this activity that's going on at the various creatures 210 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:56,320 Speaker 1: that call it home, sometimes exclusively uh their home, it's 211 00:11:56,320 --> 00:12:00,280 Speaker 1: also prime stalking zone for many marine predators, So both 212 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 1: sargasm predators who live there and have evolved a thrive 213 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:07,400 Speaker 1: in its environment, but also general marine apex predators that 214 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:10,440 Speaker 1: are drawn in by the by by the riches there 215 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:13,319 Speaker 1: by the biodiversity. Uh. Let's see if a few other 216 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:17,600 Speaker 1: just sort of general um facts about sargassum. It can 217 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:22,480 Speaker 1: survive wide temperature and salinity variances, and after about a year, 218 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 1: those new maticists that help it to remain buoyant, uh, 219 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:29,360 Speaker 1: they lose their buoyancy and bits of sargassum will then 220 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:32,880 Speaker 1: sink to the sea floor, where it will actually end 221 00:12:32,920 --> 00:12:36,120 Speaker 1: up providing carbon for various deep sea creatures. So it's 222 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:39,000 Speaker 1: not only an important energy source for the sunlit shallow 223 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:41,320 Speaker 1: regions of the sea, but for the dark depths as well. 224 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:43,960 Speaker 1: I guess, serving as kind of like that that nutrient 225 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:47,960 Speaker 1: rainfall that we've talked about before that rains upon the 226 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:51,880 Speaker 1: deep and indeed, when it washes up on the shore uh, 227 00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:54,160 Speaker 1: I guess for for the most part we're talking about it, 228 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:57,959 Speaker 1: if it's washing up in manageable quantities um, it can 229 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:02,520 Speaker 1: actually nourish beaches, uh, can prevent sand from blowing away. Uh. 230 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:04,800 Speaker 1: And when it washes up, it also serves as a 231 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 1: food source for various coastal species. UM. And not only 232 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:12,320 Speaker 1: is it generally not harmful to humans, it's actually edible. 233 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:14,319 Speaker 1: More on that in a bit. UH. There are also 234 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:19,880 Speaker 1: possible biofuel and pharmaceutical possibilities for sargassum um. We'll get 235 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:21,880 Speaker 1: into some of the drawbacks later on, but but one 236 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:24,199 Speaker 1: of the interesting things here is that like the idea 237 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:27,320 Speaker 1: of just sargassum piling up on the beach again in 238 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:31,400 Speaker 1: manageable quality quant quantities, it does bring to mind that 239 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:37,120 Speaker 1: sort of um contest, that disagreement at times over what 240 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:39,839 Speaker 1: constitutes the beach or what the beach should look like. 241 00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:43,200 Speaker 1: You know, should there be anything on the beach other 242 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:47,600 Speaker 1: than um humans strolling and enjoying their vacation. You know? Uh, 243 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:49,760 Speaker 1: you know, some of the some of the really beautiful 244 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:52,439 Speaker 1: beaches out there, a lot of times they are manicured, 245 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:56,040 Speaker 1: things like seaweed are collected regularly in order to have 246 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:59,840 Speaker 1: that sort of Hollywood beach presented. Uh. And in many cases, 247 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 1: as an argument to me, may then no debris would 248 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:05,280 Speaker 1: be on the beach naturally, and it in the right 249 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:08,760 Speaker 1: quantities it can be important to keeping the sand from 250 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:11,760 Speaker 1: washing away, keeping the beach from eroding, etcetera. I can 251 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:13,880 Speaker 1: see the point of view that would say I'm okay 252 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:18,199 Speaker 1: with the beach that has natural debris but not unmanageable 253 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:21,600 Speaker 1: amounts of natural debris or artificial debris. I mean you 254 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:23,840 Speaker 1: certainly you know you don't want too many beer cans. 255 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:26,400 Speaker 1: That's going to kind of ruin your beach experience. Yeah, 256 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:28,200 Speaker 1: nobody wants to step on a beer can on the beach, 257 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:31,040 Speaker 1: But likewise, nobody really wants to have to walk over 258 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:35,120 Speaker 1: a tin foot high mound of sargassum like dead, rotting seaweed. 259 00:14:35,560 --> 00:14:39,120 Speaker 1: Right right now, Um, we're gonna be getting into the 260 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:45,280 Speaker 1: history of humanities awareness and understanding of sargassum here. And 261 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:48,320 Speaker 1: the first bit I want to share is that you know, 262 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:54,040 Speaker 1: certainly early sailors described sargassum mats, and one individual in particular, 263 00:14:54,360 --> 00:15:00,120 Speaker 1: Christopher Columbus. Uh, this was in when abundant sargas. Some 264 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:03,840 Speaker 1: fooled Columbus into thinking he was approaching land. And I 265 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:06,960 Speaker 1: couldn't find anything that really defined this for me. I 266 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:09,720 Speaker 1: don't know if you did, Joe, but I assume this 267 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:12,600 Speaker 1: is what the term the weed of Deceit refers to 268 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:17,120 Speaker 1: the idea that you might encounter sargassum mats out at 269 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:20,640 Speaker 1: sea and you could make the same air that Columbus 270 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:23,360 Speaker 1: made and think, oh, look at all the seaweed. Uh, 271 00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:25,840 Speaker 1: there's it's thick. It's everywhere. We must be really close 272 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:28,760 Speaker 1: to land at this point. Sure, I don't know that 273 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:31,120 Speaker 1: that's where the name comes from, but that makes sense. Yeah. 274 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:35,040 Speaker 1: So on September Columbus Road, and this is of course 275 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:37,960 Speaker 1: translated uh quote, we have begun to see large patches 276 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:40,800 Speaker 1: of yellowish green weed which seems to have been torn 277 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:44,120 Speaker 1: away from some islander. Reef. I know better because I 278 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:46,560 Speaker 1: make the mainland to be farther on. And then on 279 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:49,360 Speaker 1: September I saw a great deal of weed today from 280 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:51,560 Speaker 1: rocks that lie to the west. I take this to 281 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:54,160 Speaker 1: mean we are near land. The weed resembles a grass, 282 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:56,560 Speaker 1: except that it has long stalks and shoots and is 283 00:15:56,640 --> 00:16:00,760 Speaker 1: loaded with fruit like the like the mastic tree. Um 284 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:03,040 Speaker 1: so h yeah, I guess. On the on September six, 285 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:05,200 Speaker 1: it sounds like he was like, no, you can't fool me, 286 00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:07,360 Speaker 1: We're not that close to land. But on September sevent 287 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:10,800 Speaker 1: he said, nope, we are close to land. Look at 288 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:12,680 Speaker 1: all this seaweed. I had to look up with the 289 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 1: mastic tree is because I didn't know, but it's the 290 00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:19,880 Speaker 1: but it's known as Pistachia lentiscus. Ah. Yeah, I looked 291 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:21,200 Speaker 1: up a picture of it as well, and I do 292 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:25,200 Speaker 1: see some some prominent little round fruits berries that, yeah, 293 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:27,760 Speaker 1: the little berries that I assume that's that's what he 294 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:31,120 Speaker 1: was comparing to the what what are actually newmaticists. Yeah, 295 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 1: as we mentioned earlier, the neumatosists or these little tiny 296 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:38,080 Speaker 1: berry shaped gas bladders that helped the seaweed float. But 297 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:40,480 Speaker 1: in this case, yeah, it looks kind of like these 298 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:42,800 Speaker 1: berries in a tree that would have been familiar to Columbus. 299 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:45,800 Speaker 1: I think the looking at the mastic tree apparently is 300 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 1: useful for its resin. So a special note is the 301 00:16:56,080 --> 00:17:01,560 Speaker 1: Sargasso Sea. This is a truly vast patch of sargassum. 302 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:04,600 Speaker 1: According to the Ocean Foundation, the Sargasso Sea is sometimes 303 00:17:04,600 --> 00:17:09,520 Speaker 1: referred to as the Atlantic Golden Rainforest. Uh and the 304 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:13,199 Speaker 1: islands quote unquote uh in the Sargasso Sea can be 305 00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:17,040 Speaker 1: acres across, while the regions they occupy can stretch for 306 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:21,320 Speaker 1: miles right now. The Sargasso Sea is interesting because it 307 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:25,119 Speaker 1: is the only real sea in the world that doesn't 308 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:29,000 Speaker 1: have any land boundaries. The Sargasso Sea is a sea 309 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:33,000 Speaker 1: within an ocean. It's uh, this patch in the middle 310 00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:36,439 Speaker 1: of the Northern Atlantic. Basically, it's just a large patch. 311 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:38,600 Speaker 1: If you were to look at the eastern coast of 312 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:41,680 Speaker 1: the United States, UH and you know in the Caribbean 313 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:44,680 Speaker 1: maybe with the bottom edge down around like Cuba and 314 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:49,360 Speaker 1: UH in Puerto Rico, and then going up along the 315 00:17:49,359 --> 00:17:53,239 Speaker 1: the coast of North America up towards Newfoundland, and then 316 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:56,200 Speaker 1: you just extend out east from there, there's this big 317 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:59,000 Speaker 1: patch in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean which is 318 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:01,720 Speaker 1: known as the Sargas So see now we should be 319 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:05,760 Speaker 1: clear that it is not like blanket covered in sargassum seaweed, 320 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:09,120 Speaker 1: but there are It is known for having large rafts 321 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:12,679 Speaker 1: of sargassum seaweed within it, and the Sargasso Sea is 322 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:15,600 Speaker 1: interesting in a number of ways. One thing about it 323 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:18,879 Speaker 1: is it's known for having uh for being a place 324 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:22,359 Speaker 1: where ships can easily become be calmed, and this is 325 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:26,760 Speaker 1: a a risk that people who are not very familiar 326 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:30,080 Speaker 1: with sea voyages might not think about very often. But 327 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:32,159 Speaker 1: back in the days of sailing, one thing that was 328 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:35,000 Speaker 1: really dangerous is if the winds die down and you 329 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:37,480 Speaker 1: can't say, you know, there's nothing to propel your ship 330 00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:40,960 Speaker 1: in the direction where it needs to go. All throughout 331 00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:44,919 Speaker 1: the the Atlantic around the Sargasso sea, there tend to 332 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:47,560 Speaker 1: be these wind currents, you know, they're there are winds 333 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:50,160 Speaker 1: that will blow you UH, that will blow you east 334 00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:52,840 Speaker 1: to west, down from the from the coast of Africa, 335 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:57,000 Speaker 1: down towards UH, towards the Caribbean, and towards the northern 336 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:00,040 Speaker 1: coast of South America. And then there are winds and 337 00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:03,080 Speaker 1: and currents in the ocean that lead up north along 338 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:05,639 Speaker 1: the east coast of North America. And then if you 339 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:08,120 Speaker 1: go up north from there, there are winds and currents 340 00:19:08,119 --> 00:19:11,080 Speaker 1: that will lead you back towards the east from the west. 341 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:14,479 Speaker 1: So essentially you create this box in the middle of 342 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:18,199 Speaker 1: the North Atlantic that is surrounded by currents that go 343 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:20,920 Speaker 1: in a circle around it. And this is often known 344 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:25,720 Speaker 1: as the North Atlantic gyre. Now, anyone who has ever watched, 345 00:19:26,119 --> 00:19:30,359 Speaker 1: you know, any number of of sailing movies or TV shows, 346 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:33,920 Speaker 1: or any TV show that includes like a a voyage 347 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:36,960 Speaker 1: by sail across the ocean, This is a This is 348 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:40,840 Speaker 1: almost a standard bottle episode right here where where suddenly 349 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:43,160 Speaker 1: the ship UH is in a is in a region 350 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:45,600 Speaker 1: where there's just no no wind at all, nothing could 351 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:48,320 Speaker 1: propel them, and everybody just sets around and gets like 352 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:52,080 Speaker 1: superstitious and Uh, and a little bit crazy until the 353 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:55,199 Speaker 1: wind picks back up and saves everybody right. And you 354 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:57,800 Speaker 1: can imagine, like if you actually were traveling across the 355 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:00,359 Speaker 1: Atlantic and you didn't know what you were, what you 356 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:01,720 Speaker 1: were going to see, or what was going to be 357 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:04,520 Speaker 1: out there. Maybe you'd heard some tales of sea monsters. 358 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:07,280 Speaker 1: Who knows. You get into an area where there is 359 00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:10,080 Speaker 1: less wind than you're used to than when you traveled 360 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:12,720 Speaker 1: into the area, you are suddenly be calmed, It becomes 361 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:14,600 Speaker 1: hard to travel, and you're just kind of stuck there 362 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:17,040 Speaker 1: in the water, and then you start seeing these weird 363 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:20,160 Speaker 1: rafts floating around in the middle of the ocean towards you. 364 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:23,520 Speaker 1: I can imagine that's pretty odd, And in fact, we 365 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:26,639 Speaker 1: maybe don't have to imagine, because there are some historical 366 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:29,840 Speaker 1: sources that that may well be referring to this. I 367 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:32,639 Speaker 1: guess it's debatable whether they're referring to this or something else. 368 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,840 Speaker 1: But I wanted to look at the question how long 369 00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:40,200 Speaker 1: has the Sargasso Sea been written about? Uh. It gets 370 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:43,640 Speaker 1: its current name from Portuguese sailors. I believe of like 371 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:45,920 Speaker 1: you know, the early modern period, or actually I think 372 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 1: before that, from like the fifteenth century. But but I 373 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:52,600 Speaker 1: was looking around to see how far back written accounts 374 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:56,040 Speaker 1: of the Sargasso c go. And I found an interesting, 375 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:59,479 Speaker 1: possibly applicable bit of history in a book by the 376 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:04,879 Speaker 1: British archaeologist and Oxford professor Sir Barry Cunliffe, uh And 377 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:08,399 Speaker 1: the book is called on the Ocean, the Mediterranean and 378 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:12,560 Speaker 1: Atlantic from Prehistory to a D fIF hundred from Oxford 379 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:16,880 Speaker 1: University Press in And this is in a chapter where 380 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:21,639 Speaker 1: Cunliffe is writing about records of exploration west of the 381 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:25,000 Speaker 1: Pillars of Heracles. So the Pillars of Heracles today are 382 00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:28,359 Speaker 1: understood to refer to the Strait of Gibraltar, that gap 383 00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 1: between between Morocco and the Iberian Peninsula, where you can 384 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:35,919 Speaker 1: just go through this narrow passage to get out of 385 00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:39,719 Speaker 1: the Mediterranean Sea and into the broad Atlantic Ocean. And 386 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:43,760 Speaker 1: so he's writing about the exploration beyond this point out 387 00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:47,280 Speaker 1: to the west by the ancient cultures of North Africa, 388 00:21:47,359 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 1: Europe and Central Asia. And for for most of these cultures, 389 00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:53,560 Speaker 1: the Mediterranean Sea was of course their bread and butter. 390 00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:56,000 Speaker 1: I mean the sea, even the Mediterranean Sea has has 391 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:59,280 Speaker 1: plenty of dangers and mysteries to it. But sea voyages 392 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,560 Speaker 1: within this region where you know, we're well understood for 393 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:06,000 Speaker 1: for trade and and exploration and warfare and fishing and 394 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:10,120 Speaker 1: all that. But sea voyages west into the Atlantic Ocean 395 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:12,840 Speaker 1: or another story. And and so you get plenty of 396 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:17,200 Speaker 1: tales and say Greek thought of Greek mythology about islands 397 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:19,919 Speaker 1: that maybe lay out to the west of of the 398 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:22,879 Speaker 1: Pillars of Hercules, way out there in the ocean, that 399 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:26,600 Speaker 1: that is mostly unexplored by your people. Most of the 400 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:30,880 Speaker 1: early explorers who passed west of Gibraltar did so in 401 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:34,680 Speaker 1: order to travel along the coast to the north or south. 402 00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:36,760 Speaker 1: So this would be traveling up along the coast of 403 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:41,480 Speaker 1: the Iberian Peninsula, uh to form these ports along places 404 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:44,960 Speaker 1: like Cadiz that became a Phoenician port, or south along 405 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:48,080 Speaker 1: the coast of Africa. The Phoenicians and the Greeks did 406 00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:52,480 Speaker 1: this to various extents, but the vast and presumably mostly 407 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:56,719 Speaker 1: empty Atlantic Ocean was not not among everybody, but widely 408 00:22:56,760 --> 00:22:59,520 Speaker 1: assumed in ancient times to be a place of mystery 409 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,840 Speaker 1: and danger, especially by Greek authors. And Kunlift gives the 410 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 1: example of the ancient Greek poet Pindar, who was writing 411 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:09,719 Speaker 1: in the early fifth century b c e. Uh And so, 412 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:13,080 Speaker 1: to quote from Kunliffe here describing the Pillars of Heracles, 413 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:16,520 Speaker 1: situated at the western extremity of the known world, far 414 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:20,879 Speaker 1: from home, he advises, quote, what lies beyond cannot be 415 00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:25,040 Speaker 1: trodden by the wise or the unwise. One cannot cross 416 00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:28,840 Speaker 1: from Ghadeer towards the dark west. Turn again the sails 417 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:33,160 Speaker 1: towards the dry land of Europe. The dark west. Yeah, 418 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:35,959 Speaker 1: I mean this vast, stormy ocean. You you don't know, 419 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:38,240 Speaker 1: if you know you travel out on it, Like would 420 00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 1: would you even reach land if you kept sailing? I 421 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:44,240 Speaker 1: mean it was not known. However, Kunliffe writes that Phoenician 422 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:48,160 Speaker 1: sailors were more adventurous in general in pushing westward uh 423 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:51,200 Speaker 1: and about around the year six hundred b c E. 424 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:56,640 Speaker 1: A Phoenician expedition sponsored by the pharaoh Necho the second 425 00:23:56,840 --> 00:24:01,719 Speaker 1: had been reported to have circumnavigated after and though we 426 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:04,640 Speaker 1: don't have the original sources for the account that I'm 427 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:09,959 Speaker 1: about to describe, there are later Roman quotations of the 428 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:15,520 Speaker 1: accounts of Phoenician sailors possibly pushing further west into the 429 00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:19,639 Speaker 1: Atlantic in exploration. And one of these notable sailors was 430 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:24,600 Speaker 1: a Carthaginian navigator named him Ilco. That's h I M 431 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,879 Speaker 1: I l c O, who lived probably sometime in the 432 00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:31,239 Speaker 1: fifth century b c E. Now, the Carthaginians were an 433 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:35,600 Speaker 1: ancient civilization that was based along the coast of North Africa. 434 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:38,320 Speaker 1: I think their their capital was in modern day Tunisia. 435 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:42,720 Speaker 1: But who expanded too much of the ancient Mediterranean? And 436 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:44,960 Speaker 1: then here I'm going to read from Cunliffe as he 437 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:49,160 Speaker 1: introduces and quotes another ancient source for for knowledge about Himilco. 438 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:53,520 Speaker 1: So Himilco quote, whose report published long ago in the 439 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:57,679 Speaker 1: Secret Annals of the Carthaginians, is selectively quoted in a 440 00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:03,800 Speaker 1: grossly pretentious poem compiled by our Roman administrator Rufus Festus A. 441 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:07,560 Speaker 1: Viennas in the fourth century a d. A few lines 442 00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:11,240 Speaker 1: of his Aura maritima will suffice to give the flavor. 443 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:16,399 Speaker 1: And then this quotes lines three four. To the west 444 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:20,400 Speaker 1: of these pillars, Himilco reports that the swell is boundless, 445 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:25,080 Speaker 1: the sea extends widely the salt water streaks. Fourth, no 446 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:28,040 Speaker 1: one has approached these waters. No one has brought his 447 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:31,600 Speaker 1: keel into that sea, because there are no propelling breezes 448 00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:36,000 Speaker 1: at sea, and no breath of Heaven's air aids the ship. Hence, 449 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:39,240 Speaker 1: because the mist cloaks the air with a kind of garment, 450 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:43,000 Speaker 1: a cloud always holds the swell and persists throughout the 451 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:47,480 Speaker 1: humid day. And so that's describing possibly some of the 452 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:51,119 Speaker 1: becalmed area of the North Atlantic, with like within the 453 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:53,920 Speaker 1: Gyre region that we talked about before, you know, surrounded 454 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:56,879 Speaker 1: by the currents, but is very often very still in 455 00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:01,159 Speaker 1: that middle area that overlaps with the Sargasso Sea. But 456 00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:05,880 Speaker 1: then Cunliff goes on to describe further how Aviennas quotes 457 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:10,560 Speaker 1: from Himilco to describe his voyage. Uh Cunliffe writes elsewhere 458 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:13,640 Speaker 1: he talks of monsters of the deep and beasts who 459 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:17,639 Speaker 1: swim amid the slow and sluggish crawling ships, and again 460 00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:22,280 Speaker 1: great fear of monsters stalks the deep when the wind falls, 461 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:26,160 Speaker 1: the sluggish liquid of the lazy sea is at a standstill, 462 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:30,200 Speaker 1: while thick seaweed often tops the sea, and the tide 463 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:34,880 Speaker 1: is hindered by the marshy rack. The marshy rack, oh 464 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:39,119 Speaker 1: yeah um. And Cunliff also says Himilko was evidently not 465 00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:42,879 Speaker 1: enamored of his encounter with the ocean. Perhaps perhaps his 466 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:46,359 Speaker 1: vessel was drawn south into the dull drums and reach 467 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:50,960 Speaker 1: the Sargasso Sea, as some commentators have suggested, Or perhaps 468 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:54,879 Speaker 1: he reported in this dispiriting way simply to aggrandize his 469 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:58,280 Speaker 1: own achievement and to deter others. Another possibility is that 470 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:02,200 Speaker 1: his original report was embroid loitered by a Viennas Uh. 471 00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:05,880 Speaker 1: So we don't know exactly what he's describing here and 472 00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:08,800 Speaker 1: if what he's describing is real, especially since we're only 473 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:11,320 Speaker 1: getting it quoted by a secondary source and we don't 474 00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:14,120 Speaker 1: have the original source. But of course it is true. 475 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:16,600 Speaker 1: There's the danger of the doldrums, the calm part of 476 00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:19,280 Speaker 1: the Atlantic, where you won't have winds to propel your 477 00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:22,640 Speaker 1: your sales, so you can very well get trapped there. 478 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:26,080 Speaker 1: That could well overlap with large stretches of seaweed, the 479 00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:29,240 Speaker 1: Sargassum seaweed that you would find in the Sargasso Sea. 480 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:32,840 Speaker 1: So one possible interpretation of what we're getting here is 481 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:37,399 Speaker 1: that this ancient Carthaginian sailor him Ilco actually sailed to 482 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:42,600 Speaker 1: the Sargasso Sea, survived, returned to Carthage eventually, and you know, 483 00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:45,760 Speaker 1: lived to tell the tale. But again, it's worth stressing 484 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:49,200 Speaker 1: that modern some modern scholars are are doubtful. It's hard 485 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:51,840 Speaker 1: to know for sure, but some details line up if 486 00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:54,440 Speaker 1: they're accurate. You get these reports about the marshy rack 487 00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:58,199 Speaker 1: of seaweed coinciding with the Doldrums. It it lines up 488 00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:00,960 Speaker 1: in a kind of interesting way. And then finally, of course, 489 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:03,719 Speaker 1: the mention of sea monsters right there, I wonder if 490 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:07,640 Speaker 1: it's possible to mistake the shadow of a huge floating 491 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:11,639 Speaker 1: raft of sargassum for a sea monster stalking the deep. Again, 492 00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:14,960 Speaker 1: I don't know, but it strikes me as possible. Yeah, Yeah, 493 00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:17,960 Speaker 1: And well, once you get into discussing sea monsters, of course, 494 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:20,520 Speaker 1: as we've we've explored in the show before, especially looking 495 00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:24,399 Speaker 1: at the work of the check then douser Um, Yeah, 496 00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:27,199 Speaker 1: on sea monsters. I believe he pointed out in his 497 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:29,920 Speaker 1: book that you know, at times sea monsters are a 498 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:33,840 Speaker 1: manifestation of u uh, certainly of of second and third 499 00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:37,199 Speaker 1: hand accounts of of actual organisms. Other times their products 500 00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:40,360 Speaker 1: of the mind. Sometimes they're products of of economic or 501 00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:43,840 Speaker 1: political forces. So they're the whole host of reasons uh 502 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:46,840 Speaker 1: to to speak the word of the name of the 503 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:49,920 Speaker 1: sea monster. But that's certainly the Yeah, the doldrums that 504 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:53,080 Speaker 1: seemed to be described here, and then the uh, the 505 00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:56,960 Speaker 1: the the rack, the muck, the seaweed here this does 506 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:00,160 Speaker 1: sound a lot like the descriptions modern description is of 507 00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:02,959 Speaker 1: the s O c oh. And sorry, there's one thing 508 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:05,720 Speaker 1: I didn't clarify, but just to avoid confusion, because it's 509 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:07,440 Speaker 1: not a common word, I had to look this up. 510 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:10,760 Speaker 1: Rack here in this quotation is spelled with the W 511 00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,440 Speaker 1: W R A c K, And I was like, what 512 00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:15,840 Speaker 1: is that referring to? Is that like referring to like 513 00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:19,000 Speaker 1: a like a shipwreck, because rack sometimes is an alternate 514 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:22,000 Speaker 1: spelling of rack or wreckage. But also I looked it 515 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:24,320 Speaker 1: up and apparently it is also just a word sometimes 516 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:27,880 Speaker 1: used to refer to a massive seaweed like green vegetation. 517 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:31,640 Speaker 1: Could be oh, there is a rack with a W. Yeah, okay, 518 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:35,280 Speaker 1: well sometimes that I wasn't familiar with the precise definition, 519 00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:38,800 Speaker 1: but I totally understood it in the context of the sentence. 520 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:41,960 Speaker 1: It's like, look at this rack. There's no getting through it. 521 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:45,720 Speaker 1: So so certainly you can imagine that the rack would 522 00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:48,720 Speaker 1: not be a great place to find yourself as a 523 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:53,600 Speaker 1: human sailor, certainly in in ancient times. But of course, 524 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:57,760 Speaker 1: the rack is home to a great mini organisms, as 525 00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:02,560 Speaker 1: we've already alluded to here. So uh for one thing, 526 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:08,440 Speaker 1: you have you have various um micro and macro um epiphytes. 527 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:10,480 Speaker 1: These are organisms that grow on the surface of a 528 00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:14,400 Speaker 1: plant and derived derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, 529 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:17,000 Speaker 1: and water. Uh. So you have that's those sorts of 530 00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:19,640 Speaker 1: organisms growing there. You have fun, guy. You have more 531 00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:22,800 Speaker 1: than a hundred species of invertebrates that are known to 532 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:26,280 Speaker 1: uh to to live within the sargassum, over a hundred 533 00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:29,680 Speaker 1: species of fish, four species of turtle again, and it 534 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:31,800 Speaker 1: kind of spirals out because once you have a certain 535 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:36,760 Speaker 1: amount of of life uh fostered within the sargassum, it's 536 00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:38,800 Speaker 1: going to attract other things as well. So you'll see 537 00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:41,640 Speaker 1: things like sharks showing up, etcetera. So we are not 538 00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:46,200 Speaker 1: going to attempt to cover everything that lives in the sargassum, 539 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:49,440 Speaker 1: but we are going to talk about some of the standouts, 540 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:52,200 Speaker 1: because there are some really fun, really interesting, really weird 541 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:56,480 Speaker 1: organisms that call the rack home. Uh in the first 542 00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:59,520 Speaker 1: of which I want to talk about is the sargassum 543 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:03,440 Speaker 1: fish also known as the sargassum frog fish. Now is 544 00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:06,160 Speaker 1: this the one that you lured me into this episode with? 545 00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:09,040 Speaker 1: Because the first thing that I became aware of when 546 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:12,120 Speaker 1: you were getting interested in sargassum was was that you 547 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:13,680 Speaker 1: came to me and you said, Joe, there is a 548 00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:17,360 Speaker 1: fish with hands. Yes, yes, this would be uh, this 549 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:20,840 Speaker 1: would be the sargassum frog fish. Um and uh and 550 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:23,960 Speaker 1: and I'll and I'll explain what I mean by by hands. 551 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:26,240 Speaker 1: And they're not quite hands, but they are enough like 552 00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:30,320 Speaker 1: hands that you're committed to get excited. Um and uh 553 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:34,200 Speaker 1: and yeah, it's probably the most famous sargassum denizen. It's 554 00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:38,560 Speaker 1: the species history of history o a frog fish of 555 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:42,720 Speaker 1: the family uh at tananara day and it's the only 556 00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:47,000 Speaker 1: species of its genus. So uh, we'll describe them here, 557 00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:49,200 Speaker 1: but also feel free to look up images or video. 558 00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:51,760 Speaker 1: I mean, there's nothing quite like seeing video of these 559 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:55,760 Speaker 1: these creatures. I think there's some wonderful national geographic footage. 560 00:31:56,200 --> 00:32:00,640 Speaker 1: But also the Weird House Cinema selection for tomorrow also 561 00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:03,120 Speaker 1: will feature some actual footage of this creature right at 562 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:07,680 Speaker 1: the top. Um, So the uh. The sargassum fish grows 563 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:10,720 Speaker 1: to around twenty centimeters in length, so about seven point 564 00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:14,400 Speaker 1: eight inches and I should I guess I should say, 565 00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:18,480 Speaker 1: first of all, they generally have this appearance that you'll 566 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:22,360 Speaker 1: find with other frog fish um and uh and and 567 00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:26,680 Speaker 1: they're related to uh into the angler fish of the deep. Uh. 568 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:31,720 Speaker 1: So they have these upturned mouths, which kind of give 569 00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:34,200 Speaker 1: them kind of this uh, this frowny face look, this 570 00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:38,080 Speaker 1: kind of froggy appearance and uh and and so that 571 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:40,240 Speaker 1: that's the first thing to drive home about them. So 572 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:42,240 Speaker 1: they have that that kind of body that I think 573 00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:45,320 Speaker 1: at number of you can get imagine, but I think 574 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:48,720 Speaker 1: sometimes sort of think of it as the drawbridge jaw. Yes, yes, 575 00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:50,880 Speaker 1: that's a good way of describing a drawbridge jaw. And 576 00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:53,120 Speaker 1: of course, like like pretty much all fish, you know, 577 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:56,640 Speaker 1: they're they're going to consume by by lunging and inhaling, 578 00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:01,640 Speaker 1: you know, pulling their their prey rapidly into their mouth. Um. 579 00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:05,400 Speaker 1: Their masters. These particular fish, though, uh, the sargassum fish 580 00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:09,400 Speaker 1: are masters of camouflage, at least within the sargassum environment, 581 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:14,560 Speaker 1: because they've adapted to physically look like the sargassum, complete 582 00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:18,479 Speaker 1: with fleshy appendages that look like weed. I've seen some 583 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:20,680 Speaker 1: of the some of the appendages have even been compared 584 00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:24,320 Speaker 1: to organisms that live within the weed um. So they 585 00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:27,160 Speaker 1: just they just they look like they're just a part 586 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:30,720 Speaker 1: of the environment. You'll see images or even footage sometimes 587 00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:34,640 Speaker 1: of the sargassum fish hiding in the seaweed, and you 588 00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:37,600 Speaker 1: really cannot pick them out with a human eye. I 589 00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:40,360 Speaker 1: think at some point I watched a documentary or part 590 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:42,400 Speaker 1: of a documentary that had some of these in it, 591 00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:44,440 Speaker 1: and it was one of those like, you know, trick 592 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:46,480 Speaker 1: shots where they show you the shot and then it's like, 593 00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:49,280 Speaker 1: there are three sargassum fish in the shot, you can't 594 00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:51,400 Speaker 1: see them at all, and then has to like circle 595 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:53,840 Speaker 1: them or zoom in on them or something. I think 596 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:57,000 Speaker 1: I've seen the same one. Yeah. Um. But of course 597 00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:00,320 Speaker 1: it's not just their physical structure and initial coloration. Other 598 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:03,440 Speaker 1: cool thing about them is they can further adjust their 599 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:06,720 Speaker 1: coloration from dark browns and greens to light browns and 600 00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:10,239 Speaker 1: greens to complete the illusion, to to fine tune it 601 00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:14,719 Speaker 1: so that they blend in, you know, seemingly completely um. 602 00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:17,120 Speaker 1: And they can do this quite rapidly as well. This 603 00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:19,880 Speaker 1: is important for the sargassum fish because again it is 604 00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:23,880 Speaker 1: a voracious hunter, but also it's the jungle baby so 605 00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:26,560 Speaker 1: you know they're they're also they also also have to 606 00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:29,280 Speaker 1: be on guard against other predators, so it also helps 607 00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:32,640 Speaker 1: protect them. Now they let's get to the hands, so 608 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:37,800 Speaker 1: if you will. Uh. So, theirs their pelvic fins uh. 609 00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:40,120 Speaker 1: You know the fins up front. They have nine to 610 00:34:40,200 --> 00:34:44,920 Speaker 1: eleven rays uh in them and they're stalked, essentially forming 611 00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:49,200 Speaker 1: what act like clause. Basically, they can use these things 612 00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:52,280 Speaker 1: again they look like claws, they look like fish clause, 613 00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:55,080 Speaker 1: and they can use these to grip objects, and they 614 00:34:55,200 --> 00:34:59,400 Speaker 1: use these to clamber over and through the seaweed. Okay, 615 00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:01,840 Speaker 1: so they can use them to grip objects, not in 616 00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:04,360 Speaker 1: the sense of like like our fingers, where you would 617 00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:08,040 Speaker 1: manipulate objects freely, but they can grip things in the 618 00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:12,520 Speaker 1: sense of like sort of pushing against surfaces. Right. Yeah, 619 00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:14,239 Speaker 1: they're not gonna be able to use an iPhone. They 620 00:35:14,239 --> 00:35:17,359 Speaker 1: can't play the piano worth of darn, but but they 621 00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:20,040 Speaker 1: can use these appendages. You have to sort of grip 622 00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:22,600 Speaker 1: and push through things, which is gonna be vitally important 623 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:27,480 Speaker 1: when you're hanging out in the sargassum like little gravoid spines. Yeah, 624 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:30,560 Speaker 1: so they're really cool. Definitely look up, I mean they're 625 00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:34,640 Speaker 1: beyond cool. They're a little creepy looking. I highly recommend 626 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:38,200 Speaker 1: checking them out. Um. So, so obviously the adults live 627 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:41,759 Speaker 1: in the mats and their eggs are placed there as well, 628 00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:45,520 Speaker 1: but the larvae develop in the water columns between fifty 629 00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:50,200 Speaker 1: and six deep. Um. And you might think, well that, 630 00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:52,760 Speaker 1: I guess the sargasum environment then is just no place 631 00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:55,680 Speaker 1: for for kids, right um, And this is this is 632 00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:58,600 Speaker 1: certainly the case, especially since the sargassum fish is more 633 00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:01,000 Speaker 1: than happy to eat them as l so they're in 634 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:04,480 Speaker 1: they're not only incredibly voracious, but their notorious cannibals. I 635 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:08,440 Speaker 1: was reading about some of the studies where they've they've 636 00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:11,520 Speaker 1: caught sargassum fish and they've they've looked inside at their 637 00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:14,520 Speaker 1: bellies and they'll find like multiple juveniles. You know, they'll 638 00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:17,040 Speaker 1: find some juveniles and they just they'll just just gobble 639 00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:21,160 Speaker 1: them up. Delicious. Yeah. So again, just a fabulous fish. 640 00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:25,560 Speaker 1: Just it's everything about it is UH is both beautiful 641 00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:30,040 Speaker 1: and frightening, uh in just the right proportions. Now, they're 642 00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:33,520 Speaker 1: not the only creature that that that lives there. Again, 643 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:36,560 Speaker 1: and they're not the only creature that that takes sargassum 644 00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:39,279 Speaker 1: as part of its uh you know, official or unofficial name. 645 00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:41,799 Speaker 1: For instance, there's the sargassum pipe fish. This is a 646 00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:43,719 Speaker 1: species of pipe fish that makes his home in the 647 00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:47,319 Speaker 1: sargassum mats. Uh, And like all pipe fish and seahorses, 648 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:50,600 Speaker 1: the male carries the egg. Um. They're just into these 649 00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:54,000 Speaker 1: elongated um, you know, beautiful fish with that kind of signature. 650 00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:58,840 Speaker 1: Uh seahorsey head now um, just briefly a couple of 651 00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:01,440 Speaker 1: other organisms. The first in general should say that that 652 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:04,799 Speaker 1: the Sargasso Sea in particular as the spawning site for 653 00:37:05,239 --> 00:37:10,480 Speaker 1: various eels uh, including threatened and endangered eels. But speaking 654 00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:15,040 Speaker 1: of decapods, there is also worth our consideration the Sargassum 655 00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:19,920 Speaker 1: swimming crab or U. Portunists say, I uh, this is 656 00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:24,040 Speaker 1: uh just one variety of crab you'll find in sargassum mats, 657 00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:26,719 Speaker 1: but it's an impressive one and a species adapted to 658 00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:30,480 Speaker 1: blend into the environment. They have an orange brown colorization 659 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:34,000 Speaker 1: that apparently matches up with the sargassum pretty well, and 660 00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:38,319 Speaker 1: as the name implies, they're more adapted for swimming than walking. Uh. 661 00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:43,960 Speaker 1: The fourth pair of legs are modified into paddle like structures. Now, crabs, 662 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:47,600 Speaker 1: of of course, are noted for walking sideways, So you 663 00:37:47,719 --> 00:37:49,799 Speaker 1: might wonder how does it swim, Well, they tend to 664 00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:53,000 Speaker 1: swim sideways as well. Uh, and apparently they're quite fast. 665 00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:56,160 Speaker 1: They depend on a mix of active and passive hunting, 666 00:37:56,239 --> 00:38:00,279 Speaker 1: so they'll they'll actively chase after something against sideways to 667 00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:03,640 Speaker 1: catch it, but they'll also fall back on that that 668 00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:09,799 Speaker 1: sort of ambush hunting within the jungle of the sargassum. Yeah. Now, 669 00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:14,120 Speaker 1: in addition to these organisms that spend all or most 670 00:38:14,239 --> 00:38:17,759 Speaker 1: of their lives in the sargassum, there are also organisms 671 00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:22,040 Speaker 1: that use sargassum as a sort of like a stepping 672 00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:26,480 Speaker 1: stone during their migration patterns. One example that's often referenced 673 00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:30,040 Speaker 1: would be young sea turtles. Yeah, and I've also heard 674 00:38:30,080 --> 00:38:33,880 Speaker 1: that it's important to even like migratory bird space species. Again, 675 00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:37,360 Speaker 1: it's it's it's an oasis in the waste, an oasis 676 00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:45,720 Speaker 1: in the desert of the sea. Than so, Now, earlier 677 00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:49,320 Speaker 1: we we alluded to the sargassum being not not only 678 00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:53,840 Speaker 1: this this bountiful environment, but also potentially a problem, a 679 00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:57,640 Speaker 1: problem for humans and the sort of human likes and 680 00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:02,400 Speaker 1: dislikes concerning beaches. But all so just for the environment 681 00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:06,160 Speaker 1: as a whole. As the Ocean Foundation points out, it's 682 00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:09,880 Speaker 1: ecologically important the sargassum, but it doesn't mean it doesn't 683 00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:14,799 Speaker 1: have some downsides, especially when you're dealing with large volumes, right, 684 00:39:14,880 --> 00:39:18,680 Speaker 1: And this is something that's become especially a problem within 685 00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:22,040 Speaker 1: just the last decade or so. Actually, it can really 686 00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:24,600 Speaker 1: be dated to a year in particular from what from 687 00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:27,680 Speaker 1: everything we've been reading for the year two thousand eleven. 688 00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:33,000 Speaker 1: Starting around two thousand eleven, something started happening with sargassum 689 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:37,640 Speaker 1: in the Atlantic Ocean, where there was a sudden increase 690 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:40,840 Speaker 1: that has gone on in many years since then of 691 00:39:40,840 --> 00:39:46,560 Speaker 1: of sargassum inundations where beaches and shorelines along areas in 692 00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:49,759 Speaker 1: the Caribbean, along the coast of Florida, along places in 693 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:53,000 Speaker 1: the coast of the northern coast of South America would 694 00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:57,040 Speaker 1: just be caked with sargassum, like they're just mounds and 695 00:39:57,280 --> 00:40:00,400 Speaker 1: mounds of seaweed piling up to the point that it 696 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:04,799 Speaker 1: in some cases would make these shores unusable for what 697 00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:07,520 Speaker 1: humans have been using them for, usually in in the 698 00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:10,759 Speaker 1: years beforehand. Yeah, if if any of you out there 699 00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:14,719 Speaker 1: are are snorkelers or are you know, related to our 700 00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:18,960 Speaker 1: friends with snorkeling enthusiasts, then you've you've probably heard about 701 00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:22,640 Speaker 1: the blight of sargassum, about the disappointment of of, say, 702 00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:26,600 Speaker 1: you know, reaching a popular snorkeling area and finding that 703 00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:31,000 Speaker 1: there's just sargassum everywhere, um, you know. So it's in particular. 704 00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:32,839 Speaker 1: One of the things that the Ocean Foundation points out 705 00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:36,799 Speaker 1: is huge rafts of it can actually smother other sea 706 00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:40,879 Speaker 1: grasses and even coral reefs. Um. You know. Granted, coral 707 00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:44,719 Speaker 1: reefs are facing uh a number of problems, um you know, 708 00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:48,360 Speaker 1: and and uh and we've gone into that in past episodes. 709 00:40:48,400 --> 00:40:52,040 Speaker 1: But but certainly this could disrupt your ability to even 710 00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:55,440 Speaker 1: properly view them as a as a tourist in the ocean, 711 00:40:55,520 --> 00:40:58,239 Speaker 1: as a as a snorkeler um, you know, out there 712 00:40:58,239 --> 00:41:01,680 Speaker 1: trying to to observe this natural habitat. Uh. It can 713 00:41:01,719 --> 00:41:05,040 Speaker 1: also this is interesting this this has brought up as well. 714 00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:09,279 Speaker 1: Apparently sargassum can serve as a means of transport for 715 00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:13,359 Speaker 1: invasive species, though UM I honestly wonder if this at 716 00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:18,120 Speaker 1: all compares to human enabled invasive species transport. It seems 717 00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:21,120 Speaker 1: like um it almost wouldn't matter compared to what humans 718 00:41:21,440 --> 00:41:24,960 Speaker 1: can and have done. Um, you know, importing species like 719 00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:29,080 Speaker 1: the lion fish into regions that um, that that are 720 00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:32,960 Speaker 1: not balanced enough to to contain them. Well, yes, but 721 00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:35,480 Speaker 1: I would also say that there I think there is 722 00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:39,839 Speaker 1: at least a strong likelihood that human behavior is a 723 00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:45,680 Speaker 1: major contributor to these these new build ups of sargassum. Yeah, 724 00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:47,400 Speaker 1: and we'll and we'll get into into more of that 725 00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:50,200 Speaker 1: in just a second. Um, just a few more points 726 00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:53,839 Speaker 1: here that the Ocean Foundation made uh. Sargassum of course 727 00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:56,000 Speaker 1: can prevent boats and fishermen from setting out to sea. 728 00:41:56,440 --> 00:41:59,600 Speaker 1: It can also prevent sea turtles from making it to 729 00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:03,840 Speaker 1: net in these cases as well. So you know, again 730 00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:06,719 Speaker 1: you have it massing up on the beach in particular, 731 00:42:06,920 --> 00:42:09,040 Speaker 1: if it's um, you know a certain amount of that 732 00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:11,799 Speaker 1: is arguably good for the beach, but if you have 733 00:42:11,840 --> 00:42:15,160 Speaker 1: too much of it, yeah, it's gonna actually interfere potentially 734 00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:17,960 Speaker 1: in a sea turtle's ability to come on shore lady 735 00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:21,080 Speaker 1: eggs and then have the hatchlings be able to properly 736 00:42:21,560 --> 00:42:23,840 Speaker 1: get back out to sea again in in an appropriate 737 00:42:23,840 --> 00:42:26,640 Speaker 1: amount of time. And if it masses on the beach, 738 00:42:26,719 --> 00:42:29,480 Speaker 1: the sargassum it. If it's not removed in time, it 739 00:42:29,520 --> 00:42:33,560 Speaker 1: can produce hydrogen sulfide, which can have a major can 740 00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:37,640 Speaker 1: have major detrimental effects on coastal ecosystems. Yeah, I mean 741 00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:39,640 Speaker 1: it can have all kinds of negative effects on the 742 00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:41,880 Speaker 1: wildlife itself. I mean, one would be like if it 743 00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:43,960 Speaker 1: doesn't reach the beach, if you're just talking about it 744 00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:49,440 Speaker 1: still being in the water. Big blooms of algal organisms 745 00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:53,520 Speaker 1: in the water can have downstream effects when the blooms 746 00:42:53,640 --> 00:42:57,720 Speaker 1: eventually die and then there's all of this dead, decomposing 747 00:42:57,760 --> 00:43:01,600 Speaker 1: material in the water, and then the decomposition of the 748 00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:06,120 Speaker 1: material ends up robbing the water of dissolved oxygen, which 749 00:43:06,120 --> 00:43:08,840 Speaker 1: in turn leads to these big fish die offs and 750 00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:11,560 Speaker 1: die offs of other organisms because there's not enough oxygen 751 00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:14,120 Speaker 1: in the water for them to breathe. Yeah, and also 752 00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:16,960 Speaker 1: all that decomposition in the water can promote harmful blooms 753 00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:20,160 Speaker 1: of bacteria and other microbes. I guess the way to 754 00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:24,719 Speaker 1: to to think of it is it's basically like spiraling 755 00:43:25,080 --> 00:43:30,280 Speaker 1: imbalance in the ecosystem and uh and and uh it's 756 00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:34,440 Speaker 1: it's place in this this this this cascade of imbalance. 757 00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:38,200 Speaker 1: Now to get kind of a I guess, sort of 758 00:43:38,239 --> 00:43:42,880 Speaker 1: a bird's eye or I guess satellite view of things UM. 759 00:43:43,120 --> 00:43:44,759 Speaker 1: I found this pretty helpful. I was looking at a 760 00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:48,759 Speaker 1: July twenty nineteen article from NASA Goddard. They utilize the 761 00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:54,839 Speaker 1: satellite images to observe the Great Atlantic sargassum belt uh 762 00:43:54,880 --> 00:43:58,239 Speaker 1: so at this point, based on simulations, they confirmed that 763 00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:01,120 Speaker 1: its shape was due to ocean purnants and that it 764 00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:04,600 Speaker 1: can grow large enough so as to blanket the surface 765 00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:08,000 Speaker 1: of the Tropical Atlantic from the west coast of Africa 766 00:44:08,040 --> 00:44:12,400 Speaker 1: to the Gulf of Mexico. Major blooms have occurred in 767 00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:16,880 Speaker 1: every year between twenty eleven and again, this was a 768 00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:19,359 Speaker 1: July article, so that's as far up as it went 769 00:44:19,400 --> 00:44:23,600 Speaker 1: at the time. UH with the exception of which this 770 00:44:23,680 --> 00:44:27,279 Speaker 1: was apparently uh in this year was impacted by unusually 771 00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:32,000 Speaker 1: low seed populations during the winter, but otherwise eleven onward, 772 00:44:32,480 --> 00:44:36,560 Speaker 1: it's been sargassum season. Prior to eleven, most of the 773 00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:39,520 Speaker 1: free floating sargassum in the ocean was primarily found in 774 00:44:39,560 --> 00:44:43,359 Speaker 1: patches around the Gulf of Mexico and the Sargasso Sea. 775 00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:49,279 Speaker 1: But then something changed, something seemingly in the biochemistry the ocean. Obviously, 776 00:44:49,719 --> 00:44:51,960 Speaker 1: you know, people were asking a lot of questions about 777 00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:55,800 Speaker 1: climate change. Uh, and and ultimately I guess the reality 778 00:44:55,960 --> 00:44:58,960 Speaker 1: is is complicated, but basically yes, it's pointed out by 779 00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:02,400 Speaker 1: a doctor Paul all up Bon Tempi of NASA's Ocean 780 00:45:02,440 --> 00:45:07,960 Speaker 1: Biology and Biogeochemistry Program, the ocean's biochemistry is changing due 781 00:45:08,000 --> 00:45:11,200 Speaker 1: to a mix of natural and human forces, and it 782 00:45:11,239 --> 00:45:14,320 Speaker 1: seems to be leading to an ecosystem shift with important 783 00:45:14,360 --> 00:45:17,520 Speaker 1: implications for marine life and human life, since we depend 784 00:45:17,520 --> 00:45:19,759 Speaker 1: on many of the species in question and live in 785 00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:23,200 Speaker 1: and in many of the environments that are impacted. UH. 786 00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:26,719 Speaker 1: Climate change is certainly a key aspect of this, as 787 00:45:26,880 --> 00:45:32,560 Speaker 1: it impacts precipitation and ocean circulation, but increased water temperatures 788 00:45:32,600 --> 00:45:36,160 Speaker 1: specifically don't seem to be the cause. It's these other causes. 789 00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:40,000 Speaker 1: But again, uh, climate change is very much part of 790 00:45:40,040 --> 00:45:41,840 Speaker 1: the issue. I don't want to make it sound like 791 00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:43,919 Speaker 1: it's not. Yeah, if you're If you want to read 792 00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:46,480 Speaker 1: more in depth about this research, there's a really good 793 00:45:46,560 --> 00:45:50,200 Speaker 1: article in the Atlantic by Ed Young from July nineteen 794 00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:55,040 Speaker 1: called hy waves of seaweed have been smothering Caribbean beaches. Again. 795 00:45:55,080 --> 00:45:58,600 Speaker 1: This from July nineteen by ed Young. Uh, that's worth 796 00:45:58,600 --> 00:46:00,160 Speaker 1: looking up, and it gets into a lot of the 797 00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:03,200 Speaker 1: difficulty and uncertainty and trying to figure out exactly what 798 00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:06,759 Speaker 1: the underlying factors leading to this change that we first 799 00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:11,000 Speaker 1: saw in the year two thousand eleven was establishing this 800 00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:14,480 Speaker 1: this huge belt of sargassum that was not there previously. 801 00:46:14,520 --> 00:46:16,560 Speaker 1: And and what we want to be very clear, this 802 00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:20,640 Speaker 1: Atlantic sargassum belt is different from the sargassum in the 803 00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:23,440 Speaker 1: Sargasso Sea. The Sargasso Sea is further north in the 804 00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:26,520 Speaker 1: North Atlantic off the east coast of of like the 805 00:46:26,600 --> 00:46:30,200 Speaker 1: United States, whereas this would be something that stretches more 806 00:46:30,239 --> 00:46:34,440 Speaker 1: between Brazil and Africa. In fact, one of the things 807 00:46:34,480 --> 00:46:37,000 Speaker 1: that ed Young writes about in this article was the 808 00:46:37,640 --> 00:46:40,000 Speaker 1: very idea of the satellite photos that you were talking 809 00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:44,080 Speaker 1: about that one of the fortunate things for studying sargassum 810 00:46:44,080 --> 00:46:47,759 Speaker 1: blooms on the large scale is that sargassum reflects more 811 00:46:47,880 --> 00:46:51,239 Speaker 1: infrared light than the sea water around it, So when 812 00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:54,759 Speaker 1: you look down with satellites, sargassum patches can appear as 813 00:46:54,840 --> 00:46:57,760 Speaker 1: hot spots in the ocean that can be seen from space. 814 00:46:58,800 --> 00:47:03,360 Speaker 1: Young sites the researcher named Jim Gower of the Fisheries 815 00:47:03,400 --> 00:47:08,520 Speaker 1: and Oceans Canada for for doing this satellite research. But yeah, 816 00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:11,799 Speaker 1: these satellite photos found that the bloom really began in 817 00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:15,040 Speaker 1: April of two thousand eleven, which correlates with you know 818 00:47:15,120 --> 00:47:17,640 Speaker 1: these times when these pile ups on the beaches, the 819 00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:22,600 Speaker 1: sargassum inundations really started becoming a problem that people noticed, 820 00:47:23,239 --> 00:47:26,560 Speaker 1: but they started noticing the blooms off the coast of 821 00:47:26,640 --> 00:47:30,400 Speaker 1: Brazil and the satellite images from two thousand eleven and 822 00:47:30,440 --> 00:47:34,520 Speaker 1: then Young also points to research by someone named Ming 823 00:47:34,640 --> 00:47:38,560 Speaker 1: Chi Wang from the University of South Florida who, along 824 00:47:38,600 --> 00:47:41,240 Speaker 1: with her colleagues, they've basically established that, yeah, this bloom 825 00:47:41,360 --> 00:47:43,959 Speaker 1: is just going to be an ongoing yearly thing. Now, 826 00:47:44,640 --> 00:47:48,520 Speaker 1: uh that that it's coming and it's probably not gonna stop. Though. 827 00:47:48,560 --> 00:47:51,000 Speaker 1: One of the interesting things this article gets into is 828 00:47:51,040 --> 00:47:55,480 Speaker 1: a delay between the proximate causes that are likely leading 829 00:47:55,520 --> 00:47:57,960 Speaker 1: to the blooms and then when the blooms show up 830 00:47:58,000 --> 00:48:00,640 Speaker 1: within you know, what we can see with our satellites 831 00:48:00,719 --> 00:48:03,840 Speaker 1: or what's piling up on our beaches. Because a couple 832 00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:07,400 Speaker 1: of the factors that have been identified as likely candidates 833 00:48:07,520 --> 00:48:12,560 Speaker 1: leading to these blooms, one is um is water being 834 00:48:12,600 --> 00:48:15,719 Speaker 1: discharged from the Amazon River, you know, coming out of 835 00:48:15,719 --> 00:48:20,600 Speaker 1: South America. UM. And this water coming out of the 836 00:48:20,640 --> 00:48:27,239 Speaker 1: Amazon River is probably being especially saturated with nutrients from 837 00:48:27,280 --> 00:48:31,560 Speaker 1: agriculture that's happening all along the Amazon basin, and so 838 00:48:31,719 --> 00:48:34,719 Speaker 1: this is like it's like fertilizer that is flooding into 839 00:48:34,719 --> 00:48:37,680 Speaker 1: the ocean, and then of course that is feeding blooms 840 00:48:37,880 --> 00:48:40,680 Speaker 1: of of this macro algae. And then there are other 841 00:48:40,760 --> 00:48:43,879 Speaker 1: factors they get into that are probably contributing, such as 842 00:48:43,960 --> 00:48:46,520 Speaker 1: like what the different temperatures are this year. It's the 843 00:48:46,560 --> 00:48:49,400 Speaker 1: same thing you were talking about that um that climate 844 00:48:49,480 --> 00:48:51,520 Speaker 1: change doesn't seem to be the cause of it in 845 00:48:51,560 --> 00:48:56,560 Speaker 1: the sense of increasing ocean temperatures lead to uh, lead 846 00:48:56,600 --> 00:48:59,160 Speaker 1: to macro algy blooms, because that doesn't appear to be 847 00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:03,040 Speaker 1: the case, but downstream, other effects of climate change are 848 00:49:03,120 --> 00:49:06,239 Speaker 1: very likely contributing to this. It's just not the temperature 849 00:49:06,320 --> 00:49:09,759 Speaker 1: of the water itself. Another factor that they're talking about 850 00:49:09,840 --> 00:49:14,520 Speaker 1: is access to the seed populations of of seaweed. It's like, 851 00:49:14,719 --> 00:49:19,319 Speaker 1: how many patches of seaweed are there leftover that survived 852 00:49:19,400 --> 00:49:22,000 Speaker 1: the winter of the previous year and can act as 853 00:49:22,040 --> 00:49:25,400 Speaker 1: a kind of seed for the regrowth of the seaweed 854 00:49:25,440 --> 00:49:28,440 Speaker 1: every new season. Yeah, because I think it kind of 855 00:49:28,480 --> 00:49:32,239 Speaker 1: brings back that point about the neumaticis having a like 856 00:49:32,320 --> 00:49:34,680 Speaker 1: a year's lifespan, so there's going to be a certain 857 00:49:34,680 --> 00:49:37,279 Speaker 1: amount of crossover as well there from one year to 858 00:49:37,280 --> 00:49:40,320 Speaker 1: the next. Um. I was impressed one of the quotes 859 00:49:40,360 --> 00:49:43,200 Speaker 1: that you pulled from the from the Young article just 860 00:49:43,280 --> 00:49:47,680 Speaker 1: about how many tons of seaweed we're talking about here? Yeah, yeah, yeah, 861 00:49:47,719 --> 00:49:49,640 Speaker 1: So the estimate, I think this would be referring to 862 00:49:49,680 --> 00:49:52,120 Speaker 1: the year previous to when this article was written, so 863 00:49:52,120 --> 00:49:54,319 Speaker 1: that it was published in twenty nineteen, So I think 864 00:49:54,320 --> 00:49:58,400 Speaker 1: this would be referring to the summer of eighteen during June, 865 00:49:58,560 --> 00:50:02,120 Speaker 1: when the Sargassin Belt was at at its most fruitful. 866 00:50:02,960 --> 00:50:07,239 Speaker 1: It was estimated to contain twenty two million tons of seaweed. 867 00:50:07,600 --> 00:50:10,840 Speaker 1: And then there's even a clarification later in the article 868 00:50:11,160 --> 00:50:16,120 Speaker 1: that that estimate is probably low since the resolution of 869 00:50:16,200 --> 00:50:20,040 Speaker 1: the satellite camera that's taking the infrared imagery to establish 870 00:50:20,120 --> 00:50:23,160 Speaker 1: that number, it has like a minimum sort of pixel 871 00:50:23,239 --> 00:50:26,239 Speaker 1: distance resolution, so it can only see patches that show 872 00:50:26,320 --> 00:50:28,880 Speaker 1: up at a minimum resolution of something like a kilometer. 873 00:50:29,000 --> 00:50:31,520 Speaker 1: I think it was it could be wrong about that. Uh. 874 00:50:31,880 --> 00:50:33,520 Speaker 1: Doing that just tough memory, but I think that's what 875 00:50:33,560 --> 00:50:36,040 Speaker 1: it was. And uh. And so like patches that are 876 00:50:36,080 --> 00:50:38,600 Speaker 1: smaller than that, with which there are probably plenty, they're 877 00:50:38,640 --> 00:50:41,439 Speaker 1: not even really showing up on the imaging. So that's 878 00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:43,960 Speaker 1: a lot of seaweed. That's a lot of seaweed, folks, 879 00:50:44,120 --> 00:50:48,120 Speaker 1: and and that's ending up on a lot of it's 880 00:50:48,200 --> 00:50:51,160 Speaker 1: ending up on the shores eventually. But one thing that 881 00:50:51,280 --> 00:50:54,680 Speaker 1: is worth stressing again is that while researchers have probably 882 00:50:54,719 --> 00:50:58,640 Speaker 1: identified some very good candidates for the explanations of of 883 00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:02,080 Speaker 1: these blooms and inndations of sargassum in the last decade 884 00:51:02,120 --> 00:51:05,160 Speaker 1: or so, there's still some uncertainty. There's like stuff we 885 00:51:05,200 --> 00:51:07,600 Speaker 1: don't know about what what could be leading to it, 886 00:51:07,640 --> 00:51:11,960 Speaker 1: and what could be the limiting and contributing factors. Anyway, 887 00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:14,399 Speaker 1: the article by ed Young is a really good read. 888 00:51:14,520 --> 00:51:18,240 Speaker 1: You should look it up. Yeah, absolutely, I recommend that one. Now. 889 00:51:19,080 --> 00:51:21,680 Speaker 1: You know, in the past, I think it's been brought 890 00:51:21,760 --> 00:51:25,160 Speaker 1: up when we're dealing with invasive species or species that 891 00:51:25,200 --> 00:51:27,200 Speaker 1: are out of balance, one of the best things that 892 00:51:27,239 --> 00:51:31,680 Speaker 1: you can do is develop an appetite for that species. Uh. 893 00:51:31,920 --> 00:51:35,800 Speaker 1: In human beings now I don't I don't think anybody's 894 00:51:35,840 --> 00:51:38,879 Speaker 1: making an argument that that could make a difference with 895 00:51:38,960 --> 00:51:43,480 Speaker 1: the sargassum. But it is again worth noting that sargassum 896 00:51:43,760 --> 00:51:47,680 Speaker 1: is something that humans can eat. Uh. We mentioned that already, 897 00:51:47,760 --> 00:51:50,960 Speaker 1: and I found a wonderful blog titled Eat the Weeds 898 00:51:51,200 --> 00:51:54,200 Speaker 1: with Green Dean. Um. So his name is Dean, but 899 00:51:54,280 --> 00:51:57,360 Speaker 1: he's Green Dean. Get it and the blogs. The blog 900 00:51:57,360 --> 00:52:02,080 Speaker 1: is titled Sargassum Sea Vegetable and in this post, Green 901 00:52:02,200 --> 00:52:05,440 Speaker 1: Dean points to a few different culinary traditions that have 902 00:52:05,600 --> 00:52:09,600 Speaker 1: recipes for sargassum. Uh. Though he points out that given 903 00:52:09,640 --> 00:52:13,520 Speaker 1: the different species, basically it's sargassum is going to quote 904 00:52:13,640 --> 00:52:16,160 Speaker 1: very in taste and texture, so there is no one 905 00:52:16,200 --> 00:52:19,680 Speaker 1: way to cook your local species. Uh. He says that 906 00:52:19,760 --> 00:52:22,840 Speaker 1: some amount of experimentation is going to be required, but 907 00:52:23,520 --> 00:52:27,320 Speaker 1: basically he goes through different cuisines. In this post, points 908 00:52:27,360 --> 00:52:30,640 Speaker 1: out that sometimes it's consumed fresh, other times it's cooked, 909 00:52:30,680 --> 00:52:34,520 Speaker 1: saying coconut milk or vinegar or lemon juice. Other times 910 00:52:34,560 --> 00:52:38,440 Speaker 1: it's smoke dried, or it's boiled. Sometimes it's even sweetened 911 00:52:38,480 --> 00:52:42,480 Speaker 1: and put into steam buns. Sometimes it's cooked with fish. Basically, 912 00:52:42,520 --> 00:52:45,799 Speaker 1: they're just numerous ways to approach it. But it's it's 913 00:52:45,840 --> 00:52:47,960 Speaker 1: worth checking out the link. I recommend it. It said 914 00:52:48,040 --> 00:52:51,080 Speaker 1: eat the weeds dot com. You'll find a post on 915 00:52:51,360 --> 00:52:54,799 Speaker 1: the sargasm sea vegetable. Um. I'm not sure I've ever 916 00:52:55,120 --> 00:52:58,160 Speaker 1: had sargassum in a dish. Maybe I have, and I 917 00:52:58,200 --> 00:53:00,920 Speaker 1: just wasn't alert to it that now I feel like, 918 00:53:00,920 --> 00:53:03,400 Speaker 1: I really, I really want to have it. I don't 919 00:53:03,400 --> 00:53:04,799 Speaker 1: know if I have either. I mean, I've had a 920 00:53:04,840 --> 00:53:07,560 Speaker 1: number of seaweed salads, but I don't know what species 921 00:53:07,600 --> 00:53:10,080 Speaker 1: were in them. Yeah. Well I know some basic things. 922 00:53:10,120 --> 00:53:12,400 Speaker 1: I mean, I know like comb and Combo of course, 923 00:53:12,520 --> 00:53:16,360 Speaker 1: is a seaweed based food additive that is an amazing 924 00:53:16,400 --> 00:53:19,960 Speaker 1: source of umami flavor. It's it's it's almost like raw msg. 925 00:53:20,200 --> 00:53:24,759 Speaker 1: It's that it's good stuff um. But but yeah, other 926 00:53:24,800 --> 00:53:26,399 Speaker 1: than that, I don't know. I mean, I've had I've 927 00:53:26,440 --> 00:53:29,719 Speaker 1: had like various seaweed salads at Japanese restaurants that have 928 00:53:29,760 --> 00:53:32,160 Speaker 1: had different types of seaweeds, some that looked kind of 929 00:53:32,200 --> 00:53:35,400 Speaker 1: like orange brown, like like some species of sargassum do. 930 00:53:35,640 --> 00:53:38,319 Speaker 1: So maybe I have. I don't know. Huh, Yeah, I 931 00:53:38,320 --> 00:53:40,560 Speaker 1: think I've i've only I know I've at least one 932 00:53:40,600 --> 00:53:43,800 Speaker 1: time had like a sampler of seaweed salads from the 933 00:53:43,880 --> 00:53:46,000 Speaker 1: Japanese restaurant. But in those cases, I think they were 934 00:53:46,040 --> 00:53:49,680 Speaker 1: all still rather green. They didn't have um any kind 935 00:53:49,680 --> 00:53:53,719 Speaker 1: of darker coloration. So I don't know. I'm gonna look 936 00:53:53,719 --> 00:53:55,440 Speaker 1: for it now now it is on it is it 937 00:53:55,560 --> 00:53:59,000 Speaker 1: is something I want to specifically try out, knowing that 938 00:53:59,120 --> 00:54:01,239 Speaker 1: it is sargas them. I just looked it up to 939 00:54:01,239 --> 00:54:04,440 Speaker 1: make sure I thought that combu was not sargassum, and 940 00:54:04,600 --> 00:54:07,080 Speaker 1: it is not. Combu is a type of kelp. Well, 941 00:54:07,080 --> 00:54:09,640 Speaker 1: obviously we'd love to hear from everyone out there about 942 00:54:09,680 --> 00:54:12,360 Speaker 1: this topic in general, but but specifically on this question 943 00:54:12,400 --> 00:54:17,480 Speaker 1: of the cooking and the consumption of sargassum. If you've, 944 00:54:17,680 --> 00:54:19,919 Speaker 1: if you've, you definitely know you've had it, and you've 945 00:54:19,920 --> 00:54:22,360 Speaker 1: had it in a particular way that was yummy or 946 00:54:22,520 --> 00:54:25,160 Speaker 1: or or or not yummy. Let us know we would 947 00:54:25,160 --> 00:54:27,759 Speaker 1: love to hear from you, and likewise, just in you know, 948 00:54:27,800 --> 00:54:31,319 Speaker 1: in general, any feedback about about the various organisms we've 949 00:54:31,320 --> 00:54:36,520 Speaker 1: discussed here surrounding sargassum or sargassum seaweed itself. Perhaps you're 950 00:54:36,520 --> 00:54:38,960 Speaker 1: a Snorkeler and have your you know, two cents you 951 00:54:39,000 --> 00:54:42,000 Speaker 1: want to throw in right in, we'd like to hear 952 00:54:42,040 --> 00:54:44,440 Speaker 1: from you in the meantime, if you would like to 953 00:54:44,440 --> 00:54:46,160 Speaker 1: hear other episodes of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, you 954 00:54:46,160 --> 00:54:47,919 Speaker 1: can find us in the Stuff to Blow Your Mind 955 00:54:47,960 --> 00:54:51,120 Speaker 1: podcast feed and you know where to find that, just 956 00:54:51,160 --> 00:54:55,960 Speaker 1: wherever you get podcasts. UM subscribe if you can rate us, 957 00:54:56,040 --> 00:54:58,800 Speaker 1: if the platform allows you to um, you know it 958 00:54:58,800 --> 00:55:00,560 Speaker 1: gives us, I guess a good rate. Guess what we're 959 00:55:00,560 --> 00:55:03,799 Speaker 1: asking for. You know that supposedly helps us out, but 960 00:55:04,120 --> 00:55:06,360 Speaker 1: in general we're just thankful if you're if you're listening 961 00:55:06,440 --> 00:55:09,000 Speaker 1: to the show, and uh, you know, right in, let 962 00:55:09,080 --> 00:55:10,640 Speaker 1: us know what you like about the show, what what 963 00:55:10,719 --> 00:55:12,680 Speaker 1: you would like to hear from us in the future, 964 00:55:12,760 --> 00:55:16,640 Speaker 1: what other topics you would like us to consider. Yes, absolutely, 965 00:55:16,920 --> 00:55:19,600 Speaker 1: uh so, I guess we're closing out here, so huge, 966 00:55:19,640 --> 00:55:23,520 Speaker 1: thanks as always to our wonderful audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. 967 00:55:23,840 --> 00:55:25,480 Speaker 1: If you would like to get in touch with us, 968 00:55:25,560 --> 00:55:28,320 Speaker 1: as as Rob just asked there, to let us know 969 00:55:28,440 --> 00:55:31,200 Speaker 1: feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest a 970 00:55:31,239 --> 00:55:33,440 Speaker 1: topic for a future episode, or just to say hi, 971 00:55:33,600 --> 00:55:36,359 Speaker 1: you can email us at contact at Stuff to Blow 972 00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:46,520 Speaker 1: Your Mind dot com Stuff to Blow your Mind. It's 973 00:55:46,560 --> 00:55:49,440 Speaker 1: production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts, My heart 974 00:55:49,520 --> 00:55:52,680 Speaker 1: Radio with the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 975 00:55:52,719 --> 00:55:58,520 Speaker 1: you're listening to your favorite shows. B b b b 976 00:55:58,640 --> 00:56:06,200 Speaker 1: B boded by many pressing into part