A safety curtain of air bubbles has been installed in South Australia’s Spencer Gulf in an emergency bid to protect giant cuttlefish from the risk of a “near-extinction event” caused by the deadly algal bloom.

Each year, in a globally unique natural phenomenon, tens of thousands of giant Australian cuttlefish gather off the coast of Whyalla to breed .

But this year scientists fear for the cuttlefish population, with hatchlings due to emerge in late spring, given the toxic bloom is already present in the gulf and creeping northwards towards their breeding site at Point Lowly.

An experimental 200 metre by 100 metre “bubble curtain” funded by the state and federal governments was put in place this week and undergoing testing, with the aim of protecting about 50,000 to 80,000 cuttlefish e

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