Sea Turtle Saragussm Mat

Young turtle hatchlings even hitch rides on these floating mats as they venture into the open ocean.

Sea turtle saragussm mat.

These mats come from the sargasso sea in the north atlantic ocean which is surrounded by four ocean currents. At sea sargassum provides vital shelter for a variety of species. Turtles use sargassum mats as nurseries. October 16 2015 the young loggerhead sea turtle its ridged shell only a few inches across is perched calmly among the floating islands of large brown seaweed known as sargassum open ocean stretches for miles around these large free floating seaweed mats where myriad creatures make their home.

Sargassum hildebrandtii grunow herbarium type specimen somalia before 1889. Birds of all kinds search the sargassum for these species to eat. Five species of sea turtles that pass through the atlantic have been recorded there and for at least three of these species the loggerhead caretta caretta green turtle chelonia mydas and hawksbill eretmochelys imbricata the sargasso sea is vitally important. Sea turtles are generally found in the waters over continental shelves.

In the sargasso sea alexandra gulick and nerine constant collected data on water temperature in sargassum mats. The same currents that corral the sargassum help steer the hatchling sea turtles into the sargasso sea which is about 4 1 million square kilometers a vast nursery where they find ample food and protection from predators. Sargassum is a genus of brown class phaeophyceae macroalgae in the order fucales numerous species are distributed throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world where they generally inhabit shallow water and coral reefs and the genus is widely known for its planktonic free floating species. The sargasso sea is a vast patch of ocean named for a genus of free floating seaweed called sargassum while there are many different types of algae found floating in the ocean all around world the sargasso sea is unique in that it harbors species of sargassum that are holopelagi this means that the algae not only freely floats around the ocean but it reproduces vegetatively on the high seas.

Most turtles steered clear of the continental shelf but there was a lot of variation in their routes. Many species call sargassum home including sea turtle hatchlings fish shrimp crabs and more. Unfortunately these mats of sargassum occasionally wash ashore a problem that has made the news over the last few years. The algae clumps can be a few inches to a couple of miles long and also provides other sea life with a source of food.

During the first three to five years of life sea turtles spend most of their time in the pelagic zone floating in seaweed mats. Most blend in with the sargassum their bodies camouflaging. A number of turtles left the north atlantic subtropical gyre and entered the sargasso sea a.