With global warming, in recent years, golden tides have frequently occurred off the coasts of China. Sargassum horneri, which attach to aquaculture rafts, can float and form small-scale golden tides after falling off. Temperature will affect the growth and reproduction of algae. In order to explore whether the temperature is the potential influence factor of the golden tide outbreak, in this study, the effects of global warming on the growth and proliferation of S. horneri in the mussel aquaculture area of Gouqi Island will be discussed. Samples of the macroalgae were collected monthly from August 2021 to July 2022 at various stages of its life cycle, and the relationship between algal growth and temperature was analyzed based on the concept of effective accumulated temperature, combined with the parameters of sea surface temperature, photosynthetic rate, growth rate, and growth cycle. Based on the continuous temperature variation observed, the growth cycle could be divided into five stages: the decreasing temperature period (October to November), the low-temperature adaptation period (December), the second suitable low-temperature period (January to February), and the high-temperature decay period (February to May). The effective accumulated temperature stored by S. horneri from 2021 to 2022 was 2772.4 °C·d; compared with previous studies, it decreased by about 800 °C·d. The winter temperature in 2022 was higher than the average temperature in the previous 5 years, allowing the macroalgae to enter the reproductive period in advance. This had a significant impact on the blooming time of golden tides and led to an earlier outbreak and extinction. Therefore, in the future, we can set up a monitoring system for the early warning of golden tides according to the change of SST in winter.

In a marine environment, the concentration of chlorophyll is an important indicator of quality, which is also considered an indicator used to predict the marine ecological environment, which is further considered an important means of predicting red tide disasters. Although existing methods for predicting chlorophyll concentration have achieved encouraging performance, there are still two limitations: (i) they primarily focus on the correlation between variables while ignoring negative noise from non-predictive variables and (ii) they are unable to distinguish the impact of chlorophyll from that of non-predictive variables on chlorophyll concentration at future time points. In order to overcome these obstacles, we propose a Multi-Attention Collaborative Network (MACN)-based triangle-structured prediction system. In particular, the MACN consists of two branch networks, with one named NP-net, focusing on non-predictive variables, and the other named T-net, applied to the target variable. NP-net incorporates variable-distillation attention to eliminate the negative effects of irrelevant variables, and its outputs are used as auxiliary information for T-net. T-net works on the target variable, and both its encoder and decoder are related to NP-net to use the output of NP-net for assistance in learning and prediction. Two actual datasets are used in the experiments, which show that the MACN performs better than various kinds of state-of-the-art techniques.

For nearly two decades, the Yellow Sea has experienced recurrent green tides, which are now considered the largest of their kind globally; the mechanism behind these outbreaks remains highly complex and not fully understood. This study investigates the pre-outbreak distribution, abundance, and species composition of suspended macroalgae in the Southern Yellow Sea (SYS) during 2023–2024, along with environmental parameters. The results indicate that suspended macroalgae were predominantly distributed in the nearshore waters, particularly along the shallow beaches of northern Jiangsu. Furthermore, their abundance in the surface water layer significantly exceeded that in the bottom water. A total of 1353 and 493 algal filament samples were collected in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Dominant species included Ulva prolifera, Ulva linza, Ulva flexuosa, and Blidingia sp. Nutrient levels positively correlated with filament abundance. As a primary means of rapid proliferation for U. prolifera, suspended macroalgae contribute significantly to the initial expansion of green tides. Furthermore, their abundance holds promise as a biological indicator for forecasting the scale and extent of impending blooms, thereby providing a critical foundation for elucidating the underlying outbreak mechanisms.

Large-scale green tides dominated by Ulva species have recurred annually in the Southern Yellow Sea for nearly two decades, yet early detection remains challenging due to the patchy distribution of incipient floating macroalgae. This study investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics of Ulva micropropagules during the 2020 outbreak using a systematic cultivation assay. Seawater samples were collected from 23 stations across the Subei Shoal and adjacent waters in April, May, and July, and incubated under controlled laboratory conditions to enumerate Ulva germling densities. Results revealed that Ulva micropropagule abundance peaked in April, with high-density foci concentrated in the Subei Shoal region—particularly in aquaculture areas of Neopyropia J. Brodie & L.-E. Yang, 2020—confirming this zone as one of the important sources. Abundance declined progressively through May and July as macroalgae drifted northward under wind and current forcing. This method effectively identified putative source regions and reconstructed initial dispersal patterns prior to satellite-detectable macroalgal aggregation. These findings demonstrate that Ulva micropropagule monitoring provides a cost-effective, sensitive tool for early warning and Ulva source tracking, offering finer-scale propagule distribution data to inform precision management strategies for mitigating green tide impacts on coastal marine ecosystems. Future research should expand investigations into Ulva micropropagule dynamics to elucidate their mechanistic processes and ecological significance in green tide initiation and development.

Pholis fangi is a small, bottom-dwelling fish species endemic to the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea in China. While previous research has focused on its population biology and molecular structure, little is known about the early developmental stages of this species. In this study, larval and juvenile P. fangi specimens were collected from the Sheyang Sea Area, Jiangsu Province, in 2017. Morphological features were examined using microscopy, and DNA barcoding was conducted to confirm species identification. The research documented detailed changes in yolk sac, fin development, and melanophore distribution patterns across larval and juvenile stages of P. fangi. Comparative analysis with other Pholis species revealed that melanophore distribution is a key distinguishing characteristic, allowing effective differentiation between larval and juvenile stages, as well as between Pholis species. This study provides valuable insights into the early life history of P. fangi, contributing to a better understanding of the genus Pholis. The findings demonstrate the utility of combining traditional morphological observation and molecular techniques for accurate species identification, particularly during the critical larval and juvenile developmental phases.