Stink, stank, stunk! Smelly sea lettuce on Victoria beaches
Posted July 13, 2012 6:53 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VICTORIA (NEWS1130) – Stinky piles of what looks like toilet paper are festooning Victoria-area beaches, but the city says there’s no cause for alarm.
They say the smell is from rotting sea lettuce, a type of bright green algae with ruffle-edged leaves.
It grows rapidly in warm, shallow waters and emits a spectacular rotten egg smell as it decays in the sun after washing up on Victoria’s West Bay beaches.
Sea lettuce turns white and papery as it dries, prompting public concerns that someone is strewing toilet paper on the sand, but apparently the smelly substance is entirely natural.
