Abstract

The unprecedented proliferation of pelagic sargassum in the Tropical Atlantic since 2011 stems from a new source region just north of the equator known as the North Equatorial Recirculation Region (NERR) (Johnson et al. 2020). Ocean eutrophication and climate change have been identified as key driving factors (Skliris et al. 2022) and sargassum influx events are now considered a new norm to which countries must adapt. In an attempt to turn a hazard into opportunities, stakeholders are trying to develop commercially viable uses for stranded sargassum. Valorisation of sargassum would certainly contribute to its sustainable management. Interestingly, pelagic sargassum morphotypes have been found to vary in their biology and chemical composition (Davis et al. 2020), and thus in their potential use in different applications. As such, knowledge on the morphotype composition of stranding sargassum, and how it changes over space and time is necessary to help define and guide possible uses (Oxenford et al. 2021). In this study, we assessed the morphotype composition of sargassum

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