The destructive land impacts of hurricanes, such as damaged homes and uprooted trees, are very visible. However, what happens under the water is not as clear.
How Animals in the Ocean Fare During a Hurricane
Roughly 10 hurricanes develop within a year at the Atlantic basic, which covers the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean, and Carribean Sea. A hurricane's force can lead to waved that go as high as 60 feet and that church cold water from the deep sea with warmer waters at the surface. Currents of such hurricanes can stir sediments that can be found 300-feet deep.
In such cases, several marine creatures dive deeper into calmer waters. Researchers who looked into blacktip shark movement in a 2001 tropical storm discovered that these creatures left the area before landfall occurred. They then return after five to 13 days have passed.
According to scientists, water temperature changes, low barometric pressure, and similar signals could hypothetically alert fish of an imminent storm. A study also discovered that heightened waves at the water surface stirring the seafloor made gray triggerfish go deeper before the hurricanes hit.
As for the actual impacts, dolphins and marine mammals that are unable to escape a hurricane's path could end up getting trapped inside levees, ponds, and other habitats of freshwater where they are unable to survive. Hurricanes could also be deadly for fish in the ocean.
Hurricanes also affect marine creatures that are slow-moving or stationary. Head scientist Valerie Paul from the Smithsonian Marine Station explains that oyster reefs and seagrass beds have ended up buried due to sediment shifts. With significant wave action and storm surges, seagrass can be physically uprooted.
What Happens to Marine Life After a Hurricane?
The aftermath of hurricanes can be quite devastating. Marine biology assistant professor Melissa May from the Florida Gulf Coast University explains that after Hurricane Ian hit last 2022, significant quantities of debris were left in the estuaries.
Several boats and cars leaked chemicals and gasoline in Estero Bay. Sewage could also enter waterways and bring bacteria, including E. coli and enterococcus, with it.
Hurricane flooding and rain can also lead to freshwater influx within the marine environment. Paul explains that this could be stressful for creatures that are unable to handle significant salinity changes, as marine life could tolerate such changes to some degree but not long-term or drastic alterations altogether.
Some creatures can only tolerate fresh or salt water. Alligators, for one, can only dwell in salt water for short periods, while marine dolphins can only live in freshwater for a short while. In Hurricane Katrina, freshwater overexposure could have led to bottlenose dolphins battling a deadly skin condition.
May also explains the impacts of freshwater. With rivers usually containing more sediments compared to oceans, they usually have higher nutrient concentrations from the runoffs of coasts.
Moreover, if hurricanes push river water into an aquatic system, favorable conditions for algae bloom formation are facilitated. May explains that these are all cascading impacts of hurricanes.
These disasters, however, are natural events, as the earth's ecosystems are intended to get wiped out every once in a while. However, there is a need for sufficient recovery before another one hits.
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