There are 42 species of this macroalgae on the coast of Baja California, of which one is in Mazatlan
Mazatlan, Sinaloa.- The seaweed specialist, Julia Ochoa Izaguirre, said that in the Gulf of California area there are 42described species of sargassum, of which one lives on the coast of Mazatlan, but they are not dangerous for the marine ecosystem since they are benthic and not floating.
He said that in the world 426 species of the genus sargassum have been detected, their way of life can be pelagic (live floating) or benthic (attached to a substrate).
The arrival of algae to the Mazatlan beaches is cyclical and appears in the rainy season.
For the Pacific coast of Mexico, he added, there is a record of 42 species, of which only one lives in Mazatlan and is Sargassum liebmanni.
This is found in the rocky area next to Casa del Marino, it is a small plant about 10 centimeters high that appears with little biomass between November and February, but then disappears, therefore, it is considered part of the ecosystem.
The Sargassum muticum (Yendo) is the Asian species native to Japan that has invaded the Pacific coast, from Vancouver, Canada, to Magdalena Island in Baja California Sur. It is believed that Crassostrea gigas scallops, imported from Japan in 1940, entered into the sea since 1940 and has invaded 4,300 kilometers of Pacific coasts. It lives from the intertidal zone to about 20 meters deep.
There is no danger because they are part of the ecosystem and nothing happens, here we have a kind of sargassum in the Casa del Marino, there is a rocky promontory, there is sargassum, but it appears and disappears in that piece of rock, small and does not happen hence, there are species that can go unnoticed, the difference is that these are benthic and do not pass from there
Julia Ochoa Izaguirre
He pointed out that the difference between the benthic algae and the sargassum that affects the Carribean is that the former live attached to a rocky substrate and do not have as much light to be at the bottom of the sea, while the latter float, get nutrients from the sea and the light hits them directly, which causes them to reproduce in abundance.
Regarding the sargassum of the Carribean and Atlantic, he said that its origin is not yet known, although it is believed to come from Brazil due to the high discharge of nutrients in that region; However, he clarifies that these macroalgae have always existed in that area, and as an example he cited the Sargasso Sea, documented in the chronicles of Christopher Columbus.
They have always been there, they have a great advantage because they live on the surface of the water, get the light directly and have nutrients; while those on the shores of the Gulf of California and Mazatlan, live in the background and do not get enough light, they are more limited in light and their growth is slowing down
Julia Ochoa Izaguirre
Julia Ochoa does not rule out the risks that one day, the floating sargassum will reach the Pacific coast, but its probability is minimal because although it came to cross from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the waters here are more murky and dense, that would slow its reproduction.
“It is not a hard fact that will not reach us, but it is not visualized, the only part I see that it can pass is the Panama Canal, which some ship accidentally brought in a compartment, that would be the only possibility, but for reasons of currents I don’t believe; on the other hand, the waters we have here are very cloudy, in the water column they stack, it would cost them more work to get the light, ”he said.
Source: el sol de mazatlan
The Mazatlan Post
