Northern Fur Seals Poisoned by Toxic Algae Blooms

0:00Noah researchers just connected the dots on a bunch of northern first seal deaths, piling up near St. Paul Island in Alaska. The killer is Saxi Toxin, a nasty neurotoxin pumped out by algae blooms in the ocean. These Toxins are popping up more because warmer waters and vanishing sea ice are shaking up the food chain. Seals got hit by chowing down on contaminated fish or prey during their hunts back in mid-August. Luke spotted the first dead seals washing ashore on St. Paul and St. George Islands with no obvious injuries, just paralysis from the Toxins shutting, down their breathing muscles. Walrus has faced the same risk eating tainted clams and humans could get sick from bad shellfish, especially if it's home harvested without checks. Scientists are pushing monitoring tests, village education programs, and agency meetings to map out better defenses since stopping these blooms is. Still a tough puzzle to crack. That's your update from Anchorage News Today, powered by AI, I'm Corey with The Story.