Record Algae Bloom Laced With Toxins is Flourishing in "The Blob" — and Spreading in the North Pacific

An animation of satellite images showing algae blooming in the waters around Vancouver Island on July 18, 2015. See below for a detailed explanation. (Images: NASA Worldview. Animation: Tom Yulsman) It has been called "The Blob," a gigantic patch of abnormally warm water sitting in the Northeast Pacific Ocean for months. And now, The Blob may have helped midwife a record-breaking bloom of algae stretching from Southern California all the way north to Alaska. More about that warm water in a minute. But first, that giant algae bloom: It consists of tiny marine plants known as phytoplankton, and it is "laced with some toxic species that have had far-reaching consequences for sea life and regional and local economies," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Toxins from the algae are suspected to have contributed to the deaths of at least nine Fin whales near Kodiak Island, Alaska, in June, although a definitive cause has not yet been determined, NOAA says. There have also been reports of dead and dying whales, gulls, and forage fish in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, possibly connected to the algae. And over the past few months, according to NOAA: