Posted on 10/10/2009 8:15:01 PM PDT by JoeProBono
Beware of the blob—this time, it's for real. As sea temperatures have risen in recent decades, enormous sheets of a mucus-like material have begun forming more often, oozing into new regions, and lasting longer, a new Mediterranean Sea study says.
Up to 124 miles (200 kilometers) long, the mucilages appear naturally, usually near Mediterranean coasts in summer. The season's warm weather makes seawater more stable, which facilitates the bonding of the organic matter that makes up the blobs.
Now, due to warmer temperatures, the mucilages are forming in winter too—and lasting for months.
Until now, the light-brown "mucus" was seen as mostly a nuisance, clogging fishing nets and covering swimmers with a sticky gel—newspapers from the 1800s show beach-goers holding their noses, according to study leader Roberto Danovaro, director of the marine science department at the Polytechnic University of Marche in Italy.
But the new study found that Mediterranean mucilages harbor bacteria and viruses, including potentially deadly E. coli, Danovaro said. Those pathogens threaten human swimmers as well as fish and other sea creatures, according to the report, published September 16 in the journal PloS One.
Blobs Born of "Marine Snow"
A mucilage begins as "marine snow": clusters of mostly microscopic dead and living organic matter, including some life-forms visible to the naked eye—small crustaceans such as shrimp and copepods (copepod picture), for example.
Over time, the snow picks up other tiny hitchhikers, looking for a meal or safety in numbers, and may grow into a mucilage.
The blobs were first identified in 1729 in the Mediterranean, where they're most often seen. The sea's relative stillness and shallowness make the water column more stable, providing ideal conditions for mucilage formation....
You wouldn’t have anything to do with this, would you?
Nothing a little napalm and diesel fuel couldn’t fix.
LOL!
Bottom feeders and liberals hit hardest.
This must be where Al Gore and Michael Moore came from!
Oh sorry, when I saw the title “Giant Mucus-like sea blobs” I thought it was an article about Michael Moore and Algore.
What warmer temperatures? The Earth has been cooling for the last twelve years.
What a buncha dumbasses. Gotta blame it on "Climate Change" so we can get our grant renewed. Sucks!
Oh yes, this is the well known Euroweenie snot. It also attends the G-20 meetings and has an EU. Ireland just voted in favor of it. It looks really slimy.
Giant blobs of mucus? Must be from Henry “Nostrilitis” Waxman!
Whales blowing their noses?
Now is the time for Shamwow!
Giant, Mucus-Like Sea Blobs on the Rise, Pose Danger
National Geographic News | 08 Sep 2009 | Christine Dell’Amore
Posted on 10/09/2009 7:36:14 AM PDT by BGHater
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