Question: Hi,I was wondering if you know why the red sea is red and why do you float .l find your work very interesting and would like to find out more also why do animals eat plastic and how come there is so much of it in the ocean

Amy Heather Fitzpatrick answered on 12 Nov 2019:

hello. So the red sea is not actually red most of the time and even better it wasn’t even named for its colour. The red sea was named red, because of its location. So instead of east, west, north and south people use to use colours to refer to direction.

The red sea turns red because of a tiny algae called Trichodesmium. Depending on the temperature algae can have time periods of big growth and when Trichodesmium grows it turns red. Cool right. You float really well in salty water as it changes the density of water, so you are lighter than salt water but heavier than freshwater.

Many animals search for food by using their senses of sight or touch, not necessarily taste. So if they find plastic that is the same colour and size and maybe texture as what they eat they might go and eat it. There is so much plastic in the ocean, because we use so much plastic. Think about going grocery shopping. Are you apples wrapped in plastic, does your pasta come in a plastic bag and what about frozen food.. see how much plastic that comes just from our food.