Blobs: Disease carrying mucus on the rise!

Giant, Mucus-Like Sea Blobs on the Rise, Pose Danger

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 (sea "mucus" blob pictures).

And the blobs may be more than just unpleasant.

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 (Mediterranean map).

Now, due to warmer temperatures, the mucilages are forming in winter too—and lasting for months.

The article continues:

...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.

I'd imagine Gaia theorists see this as the earth sloughing off its organisms.

Amazing stuff.

Originally posted by loam

I'd imagine Gaia theorists see this as the earth sloughing off its organisms.

Amazing stuff.

Yum.

Why don't they use some form of underwater vacuum to suck the crap up, then dispose of the schlop? Like what i do when i clen my pool?

This crap is similar to the ick that build up in fishtanks. When i clean mine, there is a mucus-like covering on the plant-decoration, and one time i remember i forgot to clean the tank and there were blobs like these at the very bottom. They killed my catfish in a similar way they described in the video, the bacteris must have got inside it's gills.

Thanks, interesting find, never heard of this marine mucilage before. Here are two additional sources.
A short tabular blog on Alchemipedia.

* The mucilage makes seawater areas unsuitable for bathing because of the bad smell & the adherence the skin of bathers.

* The life span may be up to 2-3 months on the water surface or column.

* Marine mucilage once it has settled on the sea bottom, coats the sediments, & may extend for kms producing hypoxic / anoxic conditions.

* This may then cause suffocation of benthic (bottom-associated) organisms.

* The mucilage can also act as major repository for prokaryotes (i.e.bacteraia & protozoa) & viruses with the potential health risks of this.

* Fingerprinting techniques also show that the mucilage has increased bacterial diversity compared with the surrounding seawater.

* Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) has identified Vibrio harveyiin from some marine mucilage deposits, but not in the surrounding seawater.

* It is possible that the complex organic matrix of marine mucilage enables favourable microniches to develop which then support pathogen colonization & survival.

Open access research paper from the authors mentioned in the OP article.

Thats pretty disgusting, Could be all the extra nutrients and sewage we pump into the seas causing this. Or could be some mutant strain of the standard sea algae.

The oceans s#itting back on us.
2nd Line.

Originally posted by h1satsu
The oceans s#itting back on us.
2nd Line.

Man, I can't stop laughing
Even in this second line I'm still laughing

Everything is Fractal

The Earth is reacting exactly like a living animal with a cold...

I would add though it's important to realize as some people react like the situation is grave an extreme... At the moment, the reaction is like a mild cold very low fever and some mucus, we are way far away from having given the world Cancer yet...

Damage control and healing is comfortably well within our ability

reply to post by Drunkenshrew

Originally posted by Drunkenshrew
Thanks, interesting find, never heard of this marine mucilage before.

Me neither.

That stuff is amazing, even if gross.

It's like sea snot.


[edit on 16-11-2009 by loam]

Originally posted by mopusvindictus
The Earth is reacting exactly like a living animal with a cold...

Looks like the rubbish in my breathing.

Amazing how large scale that is.