Penguin washes up dead on Adelaide beach as more sea animals added to SA’s toxic algae death toll
Scenes of despair on South Australia’s coastlines show no signs of abating, with a penguin the latest animal to wash up dead as a result of the toxic algae crisis.
The algal bloom has claimed another beloved sea creature, amid the rising casualty list of dead sea animals found washing up on South Australian beaches.
On Friday, a Semaphore local posted pictures of the deceased bird, found washed up while on a morning walk of their dogs.
Another user commented saying they had also come across a washed-up penguin at North Haven a week or so ago, which they said was “awful”.
A dead shark was also found on West Lakes Beach on Wednesday, added another user, among other carcasses of 13 puffer fish, catfish and eels, which they described as “devastating” and “like a graveyard”.
On Wednesday, a leatherback turtle was found washed up at Kingston Park on the Holdfast Bay coastline.
Posted by the The Captain Paul Watson Foundation, they said there was “something amiss in the whole harmful algal bloom situation in South Australia” and the deaths needed “a large and thorough investigation with full transparency”.
Top scientists from five Australian universities produced a report that found 450 marine species have been observed washed up across the state’s coastlines based on more than 14,000 observations recorded by citizen scientists.
As the toxic algal bloom continues to plague South Australia, experts have debated on the causes of the bloom and how long it will persist and kill marine life en masse.
The Department for Environment and Water in their regular algal bloom updates identify three potential contributing factors that plausibly could have caused the bloom.
These include the marine heatwave, beginning in September 2024 and persisting in the deeper waters off the continental shelf, that has seen sea temperatures 2.5C warmer than usual, combined with calm conditions, light winds and small swells.
DEW also points to the River Murray floods in 2022 and 2023, which washed extra nutrients into the sea that may have contributed to the algal bloom’s growth, as well as an unprecedented cold-water upwelling in summer 2023-24 that brought nutrient-rich water to the surface.
Ecologist Faith Coleman said the marine heatwave had disrupted nearshore and gulf currents, and pointed to climate change factors such as increased CO2 and ocean acidification as another primary cause.
“The loss of our oyster reefs, pinna and scallop beds, seagrass and other nearshore marine habitats that historically kept our gulf and nearshore waters clean are the primary cause,” Ms Coleman said.
Professor Shauna Murray from the University of Technology Sydney said harmful algal blooms are caused by “specific sets of temperature, salinity and nutrient conditions”, that are “ideally suited” to a particular species of microalgae, but that it would take time to work through the factors impacting this current bloom.
“Karenia mikimotoi is generally a cold water species that blooms in northern China, the north Atlantic Ocean, Scandinavian waters, Japan and other cooler areas,” Professor Murray said.
Professor Murray added that while Karenia Mikimotoi is “reasonably common” and has been found across Australia before, including at Coffin Bay, where it bloomed in 2013 and 2014, the current bloom was different.
“Most algal blooms in marine waters only persist for days or weeks,” she said.
“It has not occurred in Australia before for this length of time in the same location, or impacted such a large area.”
Ms Coleman said the bloom has decreased in density, but that hopes of it breaking over winter slip away with each passing week.
“Every week passing makes the bloom completely clearing this winter less likely and therefore a situation where this bloom recovers to its previous high concentrations (27 to 74 million cells per litre) this coming summer increasingly possible,” she said.
Experts had previously hoped that the intense wind and rain the state experienced in May and June would be the catalyst to the bloom breaking, but those hopes went unanswered as the weather came and went while the bloom persisted.
Current estimates by the government have the algal bloom continuing for the next 12 months.
Reported marine mortalities in SA for 2025 currently sit just shy of 13,000, spread across 437 species.
More Coverage
Originally published as Penguin washes up dead on Adelaide beach as more sea animals added to SA’s toxic algae death toll
Sixth man charged after wild roadside shooting, brawl
Another man charged after gunshots were fired in a suburban street has faced court, which heard he had a sawn-off shotgun in his bedroom.
Taller, smaller: Huge 1300-home infill project in Adelaide suburb
More than 1300 new homes would be packed next to one of Adelaide’s premier golf courses, including 450 apartments.