Guest Blob, Blob, Blob! by David Middleton

“Beware the blob”… And the children of the blob!

The Legacy of the Blob
From California to Alaska, animals born during the infamous Blob are coming of age.
Authored by
by Gloria Dickie 

July 22, 2019 | 600 words, about 3 minutes

In 2013, a mass of unusually warm water appeared in the Gulf of Alaska. Over the next three years, the Blob, as it became known, spread more than 3,200 kilometers, reaching down to Mexico. This freak marine heatwave, combined with a strong El Niño, drastically affected the Pacific Ocean ecosystem killing thousands of animals and changing the distribution of species along the coast.

It’s been three years since the Blob dissipated, and researchers are taking stock of its long-term impacts on fish and other wildlife.

Last month, Laurie Weitkamp, a fisheries biologist with the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, and her colleagues released a report detailing how the Blob affected species found in the northern California Current ecosystem, which runs from the Canadian border to southern Oregon. The report shows that the mass of warm water helped some and hurt others. Between 2013 and 2017, for instance, the populations of animals accustomed to warm water, such as mackerel, squid, hake, and rockfish, ballooned. Many jellyfish species also had a strong showing.

[…]

It’s unclear how long the consequences of the Blob might last or when the next Blob might hit.

Read the other 412 words here.

Too fracking funny! The YouTube video had a disclaimer!