Panic in Spain as mysterious ‘white blob’ spotted in iconic lagoon | World | News
A mysterious white stain spreading across Spain’s Mar Menor has triggered a catastrophic drop in marine life, devastating one of the country’s most famous coastal lagoons. Shocking new research reveals an 86% plummet in species diversity at the core of the milky patch.
Scientists sweeping the area found a pitiful three fish species inside the worst-affected zone, compared to 21 thriving species in nearby healthy waters. The huge white blob – which first appeared in 2022 – now covers five square miles (12.3sq km), swallowing roughly 9% of the Mar Menor in the region of Murcia. A joint team from the Spanish Institute of Oceanography and the University of Murcia tracked over 4,000 fish across a year to uncover the true scale of the crisis.
Their findings, published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, paint a bleak picture. Water turbidity – cloudiness – spiked up to nine times higher than normal, which slashed the amount of sunlight reaching the seabed from 18.3% down to a suffocating 3.9%.
Starved of this vital light, underwater vegetation vanished across 2.6 square miles (6.7sq km), effectively wiping out essential feeding and breeding grounds. As a result, species reliant on these sea meadows have been virtually wiped out, leaving only hyper-resilient bottom-feeders like the black goby to survive.
The bizarre discolouration is caused by dense clouds of microscopic calcite crystals – a form of calcium carbonate – suspended in the water column.
Experts believe groundwater rich in bicarbonate is feeding the phenomenon, driven in part by intensive agricultural irrigation in the surrounding aquifer. However, researchers ruled out urban wastewater as the direct culprit.
The crisis is the latest blow for the Mar Menor, which has endured years of ecological breakdown – including the notorious 2016 ‘green soup’ algal bloom and mass fish suffocations. Scientists are now desperately monitoring the stain to see if the destroyed seabed can ever recover.
Located in the Region of Murcia in southeastern Spain, the Mar Menor is Europe’s largest saltwater lagoon, spanning roughly 52 square miles (135sq km). Separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a 13.6-mile (22 km) sand spit known as La Manga, it historically maintained warm, hyper-saline, crystal-clear waters that supported diverse ecosystems – including vast meadows of Cymodocea nodosa (seagrass), seahorses and rare giant fan mussels.
