Sargassum, seaweed that sometimes resembles a big brown blob, seen in Fort Pierce, Florida

Jennifer Sangalang and Eric Hasert, Treasure Coast Newspapers
·2 min read

Technically, it's spring, but you may be feeling the summer vibes already.

And what do Floridians, shoot, most people do when they visit the Sunshine State? They head to the beach.

Before you go, you should know that the southeastern coast of Florida should start seeing large quantities of sargassum, the stinky seaweed with a reputation for looking like a big brown blob in the ocean, this month.

One Treasure Coast beach already has clumps of brown seaweed peppering the shore.

Billy Ramsey of New Smyrna Beach recently walked along the Fort Pierce Beach shoreline at Jetty Park with friends and was surprised to find a not-so-picture-perfect scene: Lots of sargassum.

"It looks very uninviting," Ramsey said. "I've seen it in a few places, I just drove along (State Road) A1A coming south. I stopped at a few places and I noticed this is in quite a few places, and it's still kind of out there."

While sargassum is not generally considered harmful, rotting sargassum causes the production of hydrogen sulfide gas, which smells like rotten eggs. It can irritate the eyes, nose and throat.

A floating mass of sargassum can provide habitat for an array of marine life, according to the National Institutes of Health or nih.gov. Sargassum is a species of large brown seaweed, a type of macroalgae that floats in large masses.

On some beaches in Florida, the "blobs" of crunchy, dry, brown stinky seaweed are fairly large. In one of our photo galleries, you'll see a small "mountain" of sargassum seaweed, and a black dog posing next to it. It's in the water, on the shore, surrounding beachgoers who just want to play in the sand.

Sargassum seaweed has washed up along Fort Pierce Beach at Jetty Park from the ocean waves on Monday, April 29, 2024, in Fort Pierce. Along with the Sargassum seaweed, plastic trash and several Portuguese Man o‘ war were seen washed up along the shoreline.
Sargassum seaweed has washed up along Fort Pierce Beach at Jetty Park from the ocean waves on Monday, April 29, 2024, in Fort Pierce. Along with the Sargassum seaweed, plastic trash and several Portuguese Man o‘ war were seen washed up along the shoreline.

Take a look at the photo gallery above and below to get a sense of what Floridians and visitors experience when sargassum washes ashore.

Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network-Florida. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at @byjensangalang. Support local journalism. Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Seaweed in Florida: See brown clumps of sargassum at Fort Pierce Beach