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October 27, 2007 : Codium fragile subsp. tomentosoides
Keywords: Codiaceae | Codium fragile (Suringar) Hariot subsp. tomentosoides (van Goor) P.C. Silva | Avery Point, Groton, Connecticut, USA
Thank you to Courtnay H, aka Seaweed Lady@Flickr, for sharing today's photograph (original image via BPotD Flickr Group Pool. If you love the sea and plants (like me), you certainly should view Courtnay's photographs on Flickr.
Courtnay suggests the following link to accompany her photograph: Codium fragile subsp. tomentosoides via Algaebase. If you visit that page, the word “weed” is used (Courtnay calls this photograph “beautiful invader”); indeed, this species is listed in the Global Invasive Species Database, with a comprehensive list of common names: dead man's fingers, green fleece, green sea fingers, oyster thief or Sputnik weed. Originally from Japan, it is now found in many temperate waters worldwide, its dispersal due to “shellfish aquaculture, recreational boating, and transport on ship hulls”.
The common name of oyster thief is due to this alga's tendency to proliferate in shellfish beds, where it can smother the shellfish with its rapid growth and colonial expansion. Sputnik weed is, as you might guess, a fifty year old common name from eastern North America. The introduction of this species to eastern North American waters was first observed around the same time as the launch of the Soviet Union's satellites.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at October 27, 2007 12:00 AM
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Posted by: Margaret-Rae Davis at October 27, 2007 12:32 PM
Margaret-Rae, you may be interested in visiting the Salem Sound Coastwatch for more info and to get involved!
Posted by: Courtnay at October 28, 2007 7:20 PM
Please share your comments about the photograph(s) and accompanying write-up. Telling a story about the subject of the photograph(s) is also much appreciated! If you have a gardening question, the best place to ask is on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Thank you!
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Botany Photo of the Day is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within The University of British Columbia.
This photograph is so nice. It would seem this to be an invasive if it grows in shellfish areas.
In New England the shellfish banks are very important to human food. I will have to look into this with friends from my hme town of Newburyport, Massachusetts, where Plum Island is a barrer island with miles of marsh land and spawning areas.
Thank you,
Margaret-Rae