yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Is Sargassum Attracting Sharks to Galveston? | SharkFest


3m read
·Nov 11, 2024

NARRATOR: Bull sharks bite with more force, pound for pound, than any other species of large shark. But in Texas waters, they don't frequently turn their teeth on humans. That is, until 2010—three attacks in less than a year. The safety and livelihood of local residents is under threat. Galveston is a tourism mecca, but having a bunch of shark attacks in a short span makes people question whether to go to the beach.

NARRATOR: All three attacks take place in the waters off of Galveston Island, so wildlife journalist Chester Moore returns to the scene to search for clues that may shed light on the mystery. And near the water's edge, he spies something striking.

CHESTER MOORE: This is an incredible plant called Sargassum.

NARRATOR: Sargassum is a floating seaweed. Much of it originates in the Sargasso Sea, a vast 3,000-mile long stretch of ocean in the North Atlantic. But closer to home, Chester has noticed something sinister. This seaweed seems to attract sharks. When I'm out there fishing and I see a bunch of Sargassum, I know I'm probably going to catch sharks.

NARRATOR: What is it about this tiny plant that appeals to sharks, and how could it explain the spike in attacks? Biologist Larry McKinney has been studying the Texas coastline for more than 40 years. He says the answer may come down to what lies hidden within Sargassum. This is a mobile habitat.

NARRATOR: The seaweed provides food, refuge, and breeding grounds for an array of critters. The types of animals that are associated with Sargassum are particularly small, starting with small crabs and shrimp.

NARRATOR: These animals, in turn, attract a variety of larger species like fish and sea turtles, the preferred prey of sharks.

LARRY MCKINNEY: Any place that would concentrate a food source, sharks will always come.

NARRATOR: Normally, Sargassum floats to the Texas shore in small bits and pieces.

LARRY MCKINNEY: Today, we have kind of a normal amount of Sargassum.

NARRATOR: But around the time of the attacks, something changed. What I'm looking at here are satellite photographs of the coast of Texas during 2010, 2011. If you look just offshore, now each one of these green dots—these are big patches of Sargassum. They were coming in in mats that were the size of a football field. You can actually see Sargassum from space.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: In Galveston, the seaweed buries the beach in huge heaps. Experts believe this sudden influx of Sargassum may be the result of a variety of environmental factors including strong winds and a steady rise in ocean temperatures. And the seaweed invasion isn't limited to Texas. Beaches in Florida, the Caribbean, West Africa, and South America are also inundated.

LARRY MCKINNEY: No matter what they tried to do to clean it up, within a few days, more were coming ashore.

NARRATOR: It's a worldwide Sargassum siege.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Could sharks be following this seaweed snack into the Texas shallows, thereby increasing the risk of an accidental run-in with humans? According to McKinney, sharks do follow the mats, but only so far.

Well, you see, most of the fish feeding on Sargassum is out past these breakers. Once it gets up into these sandbars, it starts rolling over and over. The small animals do drop out and they disperse.

NARRATOR: So once the seaweed reaches the shallows where humans are, it loses its appeal. So the idea that Sargassum attracted sharks into this area is probably not very likely.

More Articles

View All
The House of Representatives in comparison to the Senate | US government and civics | Khan Academy
What we’re going to do in this video is a little bit more of a deep dive into the House of Representatives. Now, we’ve already talked about how either chamber of Congress can introduce general legislation, and if it gets approved by one chamber, it has to…
The Fourth Amendment | Civil liberties and civil rights | US government and civics | Khan Academy
Hey, this is Kim from Khan Academy, and today I’m talking with some experts about the 4th Amendment. This is the 4th Amendment of the Bill of Rights, and the 4th Amendment deals with unreasonable search and seizure. So, here’s the official text of the am…
it's time to LET GO of these type of "FRIENDS"
Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future. You’re the average of the five friends you spend the most time with. That’s real. If you’re trying to get your life together and your friends get in the way, that’s actually useful for you because you’ve…
Curvature intuition
Hello everyone. So what I’d like to do here is talk about curvature. I’ve drawn on the xy plane here a certain curve. So this is our x-axis, this is our y-axis, this is a curve running through space, and I’d like you to imagine that this is a road of some…
Warren Buffett's Top 5 Stocks for 2023
Well, it’s the beginning of a new year, and what an awesome time to revisit the stock portfolios of the world’s best investors, like Mr. Warren Buffett, and check out what they’re holding for the year ahead. So, in this video, let’s look at Warren Buffett…
watch this if you feel like a failure
Have you ever felt like a failure after scrolling on social media and seeing somebody that is significantly younger than you achieve so much than you, that you ever maybe did in your whole life? They have everything you have ever wanted: success, money, r…