Is there seaweed (sargassum) on Perdido Key beaches?

Sargassum is a natural brown seaweed that floats in the open Gulf and gets blown to shore in mats. It's harmless — in fact it's important habitat for baby fish and sea turtles — but it can pile up on the sand and isn't what people picture for a beach day. It's driven by wind and currents, so it's unpredictable and very localized.

Don't confuse a line of brown seaweed with red tide — they're unrelated. Seaweed is just algae on the sand; red tide is a microscopic bloom that can cause respiratory irritation and fish kills. We track red-tide status on Beach Today.

You can. It's scratchy and it harbors tiny critters — little shrimp and larvae — that can leave some people with an itchy rash, so rinse off after. Where there's a thick mat at the waterline, walk down the beach a bit; sargassum lands in streaks and it's often clean a few hundred yards away. When it piles up and starts to rot in the sun it smells like a low tide, which is the point most people give up and go to the pool for a day.

Resorts and some condo beach services rake their stretch each morning; the state park and national seashore mostly leave it, because the wrack line is habitat and it helps build the dunes. That's why the same day can be spotless in front of a big condo and weedy at Johnson Beach. Wind is the other variable — a couple of days of north wind and it all drifts back offshore. Check the live cam for a look at the waterline before you head down.