Florida Beaches Hit by Deadly Seaweed Blooms Filled with Flesh-Eating Bacteria and Plastic.

Giant clumps of seaweed, known as the Great Atlantic sargassum belt, are washing up on Florida's beaches, bringing with them high levels of flesh-eating Vibrio bacteria. Marine biologists at Florida Atlantic University have discovered that the bacteria can seek out and stick to plastic within minutes, creating a "perfect pathogen storm" with implications for both marine life and public health. The seaweed belt stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the African coast provides the perfect breeding ground for "omnivorous" strains of the bacteria that target both plant and animal life, and associated "microbial flora" potentially harboring potent levels of pathogens.