PHOTOS: Beaches inundated with gobs of manatee grass
Some say it looks like white bean sprouts. Others call it chopped spaghetti. Experts say the mounds of stringy stuff washing up on beaches from North Naples to Sarasota is actually a sea grass called manatee grass. There are large beds of it all over the Gulf of Mexico and much of it dies in the winter, floats to the surface and drifts around until it washes up on beaches, said Rick Bartleson, a research scientist Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation.