Researchers have linked the recent boom to climate change, toxic waste and the 2010 BP oil spill


A seaweed that stinks of rotten eggs and has been terrorizing Caribbean beaches this summer is making its way stateside to the shores of Florida and Texas.

Sargassum seaweed, which generally blooms in the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean, is a brown free-floating algae that grows atop water and does not stick to the ocean floor.

In small quantities it has has served as a critical habitat and nursery for the likes of sea turtles, eels, shrimp, crabs and tuna to hide, feed and spawn.

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A man walks through Sargassum algae at Gaviota Azul beach in Cancun July 17, 2015. Ninety tons of Sargassum, which releases a pungent smell as it decomposes, has been cleared by authorities in the tourist destination

Sargassum seaweed, a brown free-floating algae that grows atop water and does not stick to the ocean floor, has been terrorizing Caribbean beaches this summer and is making its way stateside to the shores of Florida and Texas

But in recent years the seaweed's growth has gotten out of control, in some cases piling up nearly 10 feet high on beaches in the Dominican Republic, Barbados and Mexico.

Lawmakers in Tobago have termed it the seaweed boom a 'natural disaster' and Mexico is planning to spend $9.1billion and hire 4,600 workers to help try and keep the kelp at bay.

Officials in August were even calling for an emergency meeting of the 15-nation Caribbean community as many feared the seaweed could affect tourism in a region famous for its pristine white sand beaches.

But it's not only vacations that sargassum seaweed is hurting.

In small quantities it has has served as a critical habitat and nursery for the likes of sea turtles, eels, shrimp, crabs and tuna to hide, feed and spawn, but in recent years it has gotten out of control, in some cases piling nearly 10 feet high

These 'harmful algae blooms' can cause fish kills, beach fouling and even coastal dead zones that deplete the water of oxygen

These 'harmful algae blooms' can cause fish kills, beach fouling and even coastal dead zones that deplete the water of oxygen, sargassum expert Brian Lapointe told the Associated Press.

The seaweed is also endangering the very baby turtles it used to protect, as hatched eggs become tangled in the kelp and die, according to the New York Daily News.

And the putrid stench that erupts from the rotting algae and the dying sea creatures trapped inside is known to attract insects such as sand flies, which carry diseases.

Attempts to remove large swaths of the seaweed have been attempted in Cancun, Punta Cana and Galveston, Texas, only to have the sargassum reappear.

Climate change that is warming ocean temperatures and changing ocean currents has been attributed as one of the reasons for the recent boom in the seaweed.

And other researchers believe pollutants such as nitrogen-heavy fertilizers and sewage waste could be fostering its growth, as well as the 2010 oil spill disaster and clean-up.