What is Sargassum?
December 2003 Sargassum is a seaweed that consists of several species of brown algae, many of which are free-floating masses. Sargassum is also called gulfweed or sea holly, because it has many branched stems and hollow, berry-like floats. The hollow floats aid the plant in staying near the surface, which is necessary for photosynthesis, the process it uses to make food using energy from the sun. There are approximately 150 species of sargassum found throughout the world. However, two main species of free-floating sargassum are found in the Atlantic Ocean; Sargassum natans and S. fluitans. These accumulate in large masses in an area of the Atlantic Ocean known as the Sargasso Sea. This sea is a huge mass of floating sargassum off the southeastern coast of the United States. It is located near Bermuda, and its elliptical shape covers approximately a two-million-square-mile area, a result of a ring of currents that enclose a large eddy. Because of the Earth’s rotation, the eddy circulate
