Seaweed more than one metre deep swarms Gold Coast beaches TRAPPING a woman – as baffled experts search for answers to the algae bloom
- Thigh-deep ‘cornflakes seaweed’ washed up on Palm Beach, Gold Coast
- The name is due to its resemblance to soggy cornflakes in a cereal bowl
- Videos posted on social media showed a man pulling a woman free
- The seaweed isn’t dangerous to humans but should not be eaten
Masses of ‘cornflakes seaweed’ piled up thigh-deep on southern Gold Coast beaches have caused a headache for at least one person who had to be rescued from the algae.
Videos posted on social media on Wednesday showed a man pulling a woman free after she became stuck in seaweed that had washed up on Palm Beach, 20 km south of Surfers Paradise.
The name ‘cornflakes seaweed’ is due to its resemblance to when cornflakes become soggy in a cereal bowl but in this case the bowl is the ocean.
The ‘cornflakes seaweed’ ‘ is not harmful to humans but experts recommend not to eat it
Seaweed expert Pia Winberg said the bloom was not unusual for this time of year, but that she had never seen one so big.
‘It is very unusual that it would come up in such masses on the beach,’ she told the ABC.
‘The weed will start to smell as it decays but the weed will eventually break down and feed the marine food chain including fish.
The unusual ‘cornflakes seaweed’ is not harmful to humans but experts recommend not to eat it.