ancient algae overtaking oceans
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"When fishermen touched it, their skin broke out in searing welts. Their lips blistered and peeled. Their eyes burned and swelled shut. Water that splashed from their nets spread the inflammation to their legs and torsos...

Samples placed in a drying oven gave off fumes so strong that professors and students ran out of the building and into the street, choking and coughing.

Scientist Judith O'Neil put a tiny sample under a microscope and peered at the long black filaments. Consulting a botanical reference, she identified the weed as a strain of cyanobacteria, an ancestor of modern-day bacteria and algae that flourished 2.7 billion years ago...

The venomous weed, known to scientists as Lyngbya majuscula, has appeared in at least a dozen other places around the globe. It is one of many symptoms of a virulent pox on the world's oceans."
http://tinyurl.com/r9sol

so how did we get to this point? well, as the article points out:

"For many years, it was assumed that the oceans were too vast for humanity to damage in any lasting way."

it's such a shame we've so thoughtlessly trampled over the very concept of respecting our planet. such shortsighted, unsustainable greed comes with a price, and it seems we're on the cusp of payback...