Hatchling sea turtles,
like this juvenile log-
gerhead, make their
way from the sandy
beaches where they
were born toward mats
of sargassum weed,
finding food and refuge
from predators during
their first years of life.PREVIOUS PHOTO
A clump of sargassum
weed the size of a
soccer ball drifts near
Bermuda in the slow
swirl of the Sargasso
Sea, part of the North
Atlantic gyre. A weed
mass this small may
shelter thousands of
organisms, from larval
fish to seahorses.
DAVID DOUBILET (BOTH)THE WEED THAT FEEDS THE NORTH ATLANTIC 129