There’s an interesting video out that purports to show that oil has come down out of the sky during a rainstorm in LA. The video is too short for me to conclude anything, and it’s always possible that someone spilled a quart on purpose to create a sensation, but it’s possibly a real event.
At this point, I am ready to be surprised by the events in the Gulf. If something can go wrong down there, it goes disastrously wrong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un8co1d4zb4&feature=player_embedded
The larger threat is to the ecosystem itself and all of the marine webs of life that will be impacted in ways we can only barely appreciate. Ecosystems are complex systems, which means, by definition, that they are not intuitively obvious to us linear-thinking humans. So we’ll continue to be surprised by the speed, severity, and interconnectedness of it all.
The oil in the Gulf of Mexico is threatening to suffocate Sargassum algae, dealing a blow to fisheries and the ecosystem that scientists say may take years to recover.
The algae mats are critical habitats for marine life. Tuna, Mahi-mahi, dolphin fish, Billfish, shrimp, crabs and sea turtles use the algae to spawn, sunbathe or hide from predators, often while noshing on it, the story says.
“Once it’s oiled, from everything we know of the effects of oil, all of those animals that live in the Sargassum will die,” Powers told the AP.
(Source)
Oil Spill Affecting Marine Life, Top to Bottom
No time is good for a massive oil spill, but the timing could not have been worse for the Gulf of Mexico. Endangered turtles are flocking to its beaches to nest, sharks and giant bluefin tuna are gathered there to spawn in the only known mating area for some of these species.
by rhare 
