What is the sea snot outbreak in Turkey and what effect can it have on the marine ecosystem?

The growth of the mucilage, which floats up on the surface of the sea like a brown phlegm, is posing a severe threat to the marine ecosystem of the country. Divers have said that it has caused mass deaths among the fish population, and also killed other aquatic organisms such as corals and sponges.

What is the sea snot outbreak in Turkey?

Over the past few months, Turkey’s Marmara sea has been facing a new challenge. The Marmara sea that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea has been blanketed with ‘sea snot’ causing new environmental concerns. Sea-snot is a thick, foamy layer of marine mucilage formed from the algae present in the water.

What is sea snot outbreak?

The current sea-snot outbreak can be blamed on phytoplankton, a type of algae that produces the small bits of mucus that turn into flakes of marine snow. When these phytoplankton receive an infusion of imbalanced nutrients from fertilizer runoff or untreated wastewater, they make an overabundance of mucus.

What is sea snot how it formed and what are the causes of its formation discuss its impact?

Sea Snot and its Formation: It is marine mucilage that is formed when algae are overloaded with nutrients as a result of water pollution combined with the effects of climate change. The nutrient overload occurs when algae feast on warm weather caused by global warming.

What is sea snot how it formed and what are the causes of its formation discuss its impact Upsc?

When algae are overloaded with nutrients as a result of water pollution and climate change, it begins to create a thick slimy layer on the surface of the water. This layer is colloquially known as sea snot. These algae feast and grow in warm and nutrient-rich water.

What happens when sea snot combines with marine snow?

Sea Snot May Have Created Deadly Void By sinking en masse, the marine snow may have deprived fish larvae of a crucial food source—the phytoplankton itself. When fish larvae hatch, they have less than a day to find sustenance or they’ll starve, Passow noted.

What happened Marmara Sea?

Over the past couple of months, a thick, foamy layer of marine mucilage, popularly known as “sea snot”, has spread over swathes of Turkey’s Marmara Sea near Istanbul, disrupting fishing and tourism and killing marine life. The government has pledged to save the Marmara by improving wastewater treatment.

In which country sea snot outbreak has been seen a few days ago?

Turkey’s Sea of Marmara, that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, has witnessed the largest outbreak of ‘sea snot’. The sludge has also been spotted in the adjoining Black and Aegean seas. What is sea snot? It is a slimy layer of grey or green sludge, which can cause considerable damage to the marine ecosystem.

What causes marine snow?

Marine snow is a shower of organic material falling from upper waters to the deep ocean. As plants and animals near the surface of the ocean die and decay, they fall toward the seafloor, just like leaves and decaying material fall onto a forest floor.

Where is the Marmara Sea?

Turkey
Sea of Marmara, Turkish Marmara Denizi, historically Propontis, inland sea partly separating the Asiatic and European parts of Turkey. It is connected through the Bosporus on the northeast with the Black Sea and through the Dardanelles on the southwest with the Aegean Sea.