Water-Related News

FGCU expert says smelly algae in Cape Coral canal is normal

CAPE CORAL – Thick algae are blanketing a Cape Coral canal on Skyline Boulevard and Gleason Parkway. Neighbors worry the algae might be toxic.

WINK News met with Dr. Barry Rosen from The Water School at Florida Gulf Coast University to find out if their concerns are warranted.

“These are cyanobacteria, which means they’re blue-green algae. So it’s fairly common. But don’t worry about it as blue-green algae because it’s not a toxin producer,” said Dr. Rosen.

To put it simply, all of this gunk is natural. To prove it, Dr. Rosen showed WINK News the algae under a microscope.

Filled with chlorophyll, the bacteria photosynthesize using oxygen from the warm water. “That’s what we have a lot of globular mucilage, or slime, that builds up, and the colony gets bigger and bigger, and then those, when that oxygen gets trapped, those bubbles, those mucilage balls can be lifted off the bottom,” Dr. Rosen said.