Marine mucilage, also referenced as sea snot or sea saliva, is thick, gelatinous organic matter found around the world's oceans, lately observed in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

. Marine mucilage carries diverse microorganisms. Triggers that cause it to form include increased phosphorus, drought conditions, and

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

. Its effects are widespread, affecting fishing industries, smothering sea life, and spreading bacteria and viruses. Citizens and governments around the world are working to institute countermeasures, including treatment, seawater cleanup, and other public policies.

Composition

Marine mucilage has many components, including diverse microorganisms including

virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Since Dmitri Ivanovsk ...

es and

prokaryote A prokaryote () is a single-celled organism that lacks a nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles. The word ''prokaryote'' comes from the Greek πρό (, 'before') and κάρυον (, 'nut' or 'kernel').Campbell, N. "Biology:Concepts & Conne ...

s, debris,

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...

s,and exopolymeric compounds with

colloidal A colloid is a mixture in which one substance consisting of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance. Some definitions specify that the particles must be dispersed in a liquid, while others extend ...

properties. Although various historical definitions have not consolidated, it is agreed that mucilages are complex chemical substances, as well as complex natural materials. Its composition can change over time. Sea_Snot

Causes

Marine mucilage appears following an increase of

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...

. In one 2021 case phosphorus values were three to four times higher than the previous year. Other excess nutrients combined with

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

conditions and prolonged warm sea temperatures and calm weather contributed. Marine mucilage is also produced by phytoplankton when they are stressed. Anthropogenic global

is likely increasing marine mucilage. Warmer, slower moving waters increase production and allow it to accumulate in massive sheets. In the Mediterranean Sea, the frequency of marine mucilage events increases with warm temperature anomalies.

History

Marine mucilage was first reported in 1729. The

Deepwater Horizon oil spill The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considere ...

in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

created large amounts of marine mucilage. Scientists are not sure of the mechanism for this, but one theory asserts that a massive kill of microscopic marine life created a "blizzard" of

marine snow In the deep ocean, marine snow (also known as "ocean dandruff") is a continuous shower of mostly organic detritus falling from the upper layers of the water column. It is a significant means of exporting energy from the light-rich photic zone to ...

. Scientists worry that the mass of marine mucilage could pose a

biohazard A biological hazard, or biohazard, is a biological substance that poses a threat to the health of living organisms, primarily humans. This could include a sample of a microorganism, virus or toxin that can adversely affect human health. A bioh ...

to surviving marine life in the area. Marine mucilage left by the spill likely resulted in the loss of sea life in the Gulf, as evidenced by a dead field of deepwater coral 11 kilometers from the

Deepwater Horizon ''Deepwater Horizon'' was an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore drilling rig owned by Transocean and operated by BP. On 20 April 2010, while drilling at the Macondo Prospect, a blowout caused an explosion ...

station.

The Mediterranean experienced the worse effects of marine mucilage in 2021. Exponential growth afflicted the Mediterranean and other seas. In early 2021, marine mucilage spread in the

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara,; grc, Προποντίς, Προποντίδα, Propontís, Propontída also known as the Marmara Sea, is an inland sea located entirely within the borders of Turkey. It connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea via t ...

, due to

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

from

wastewater Wastewater is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of domestic, industrial ...

dumped into seawater, which led to the proliferation of phytoplankton, and threatened the marine biome. The port of

Erdek Erdek (formerly known as ''Artàke'', el, Αρτάκη) is a town and district of Balıkesir Province in the Marmara region of Turkey. The population was 34,000 in 2010. Located on the Kapıdağ Peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Erd ...

at the Sea of Marmara was covered by mucilage. Turkish workers embarked on a massive effort to vacuum it up in June 2021. Yalıköy port in

Ordu Province Ordu Province ( tr, ) is a province of Turkey, located on the Black Sea coast. Its adjacent provinces are Samsun to the northwest, Tokat to the southwest, Sivas to the south, and Giresun to the east. Its license-plate code is 52. The capi ...

witnessed accumulating mucilage in June 2021, in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

. Fines were issued to companies discovered to be dumping wastewater.

Effects

Increasing marine mucilage has become an issue in public health, economic, and environmental matters. Excessive marine mucilage was observed as early as 2009.

Public Health

While marine mucilage is not

toxic Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subs ...

to humans, public health concerns are associated with it. Due to its complex makeup, marine mucilage contains

pathogen In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ ...

ic bacteria and transports marine diseases. The majority of such diseases affect both marine

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s and

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, with c ...

Economic

Marine mucilage has had an impact on economies around the world, especially those that revolve around the Mediterranean. Marine mucilage has long been seen as a nuisance to the

fishing industry The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products. It is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as including ...

, as it clogs fishing nets. Coastal towns that rely on tourism suffer from unappealing waters. Marine mucilage produce an offensive smell and makes the ocean unsuitable for bathing.

Environmental

Marine mucilage can coat the

gills A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

of sea creatures subsumed in it, cutting off oxygen and killing them. Marine mucilage floating on the surface also can significantly limit sunlight that nourishes coral and vegetation.

Countermeasures

Countermeasures include collecting marine mucilage from the sea surface and laying barriers on the sea surface to prevent it from spreading. Long-term countermeasures include improving wastewater treatment, creating

marine protected area Marine protected areas (MPA) are protected areas of seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity for a conse ...

s, and limiting climate change. Another approach involves attracting activity such as tourism that prevents the water from stagnating for long periods. Introducing marine species that can consume excessive nutrients.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sea Snot Aquatic ecology Biological oceanography Wikipedia Student Program