Worldwide invasion of Caulerpa Taxifolia in the wild ,too toxic for fish and urchins to eat and live on

http://www.ridnis.ucdavis.edu/Caulerpataxifolia.html
im watching a special right now on NOVA, KCET. hope this answers some
questions for all.

It seems that the algae dubbed "Killer Alage" that has
taken over the Mediterranian and found also in some parts of California now
is a marine tank hybrid that has been released into the wild, accidentaly or
otherwise relys on a single toxin that is in high dosages that the fish
eventually cant handle to eat. It is commonly found in marine tanks and i
think its invading my tank
as well. SO i guess we cant rely on and fish or urchins to control it. The
sexual gametes are about 5 microns in size.They did a study on these and
found no female gametes. What they have found out is it seems that it
spreads by
vegatative reproduction through self cloning rather than sexual
reproduction. They have found this to be true because no female gametes
could be found, only males. It can take only a tiny fragment picked up by
an anchor of a ship to start a new colony hundreds of miles away. it went
from Monaco, to Italy, to Croatia, throughout the Med, its spreading
worldwide.
This is an atrificial strain bred by humans for decorative uses. It is
taking over all our beautiful reefs and leaving no fish, and no life behind!
They thought it could have came from the Monaco oceanographical Museum, as
it was directly above the first known site of contamination. I have been to
this beautiful museum, it preserves alot of sea life for the world. I was
there when
Jacques Cousteau ran it back in the 80's, but during the late 90's they
thought it may have been the place of accidental release, but they denied
this. When Jacques found out, he later told the French Environmantal
Research that this problem is of GREAT concern, but the French Research
thought it would be a waste of money at that time. The temp the plant can
survive in is from 20deg celcius to 13deg celcius in winter. It is very
hardy. This is why is survives in the temperate Med. They eventually traced
the plant all the way to Stuttgart Shorelines in Germany, and found some in
the Stuttgart aquarium that flourished so rapidly, a species that had came
from the Pacific.

in July 200 was found in coastal lagoon in southern california. Could have
been as easy as someone cleaning aquarium in front yard they say, and it may
have
floated down a gutter into storm drain into the California coast.

Origin of the plant;

Hypotheses 1.
someone selected an exceptionally cold resistant strain of the species
somewhere from the wild (possibly the pacific) and bred it in stuttgart back
in 1970's

Hypotheses 2
someone bred a standard caulerpa taxifolia species in the aquarium at
stuttgart and through normal artificial aquarium lighting and normal
addition of standard chemicals caused a genetic change occured due to this
because there is no possibility of recreating the ocean water conditions
exactly.

It is now a global problem

They have enacted a radial plan of eradication using chlorine covering the
plants with a tarpauline and injecting the chlorine which kills everything,
its a price we are willing to pay in california so our whole coastline isnt
smothered by this algae.
The solution seems to be working, by 2003 no new algae growth has been
found, in California atleast. In the Medeterranian however, the algae has
won, its growth is too large. It has taken over. Some places in france they
will have to pull it out by hand if it reaches some rare fragile uninfected
reef areas.

There is a tiny tropical slug that eats this algae. It feeds exclusivly on
caulerpa taxifolia or maybe just any caulerpa, I missed the exact statistic.
This slug seems to be proliferating in the medeterranian now, it
produces an enzyme that neutralizes the toxins in its digestive system.
They eat the plant by sucking out the juices. They are thinking of
releasing
thousands of these slugs into the Med. to slow down the spread. But alot of
study needs to be done. It would be adding another alien species into the
sea. But it
seems its safe because it ONLY eats caulerpa. a problem is this slug cant
live in deeper waters, so World Scientists are called upon to find on that
lives in deeper waters than can eat this strain. Contact the authorities if
you have any information on a slug that may do this.

Australia is also under attack. They tried huge amounts of salt, which
worked but they say theres not enough salt in the world to finish the job,
and they tried copper sulfate but that was too controversial because it
killed everything. They have to now rely on hand picking. You are right
Mark! haha. Hand pick!

The dangerous plant now grows in 9 countries on 4 continents, and the
problem is entirely man made. Improper disposal can start a whole new
problem and a new invasion.

Be CAREFUL GUYS!

On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 05:11:40 GMT, "Wolf" "
wrote:

http://www.ridnis.ucdavis.edu/Caulerpataxifolia.html
im watching a special right now on NOVA, KCET. hope this answers some
questions for all.

It seems that the algae dubbed "Killer Alage" that has
taken over the Mediterranian and found also in some parts of California now
is a marine tank hybrid that has been released into the wild, accidentaly or
otherwise relys on a single toxin that is in high dosages that the fish
eventually cant handle to eat. It is commonly found in marine tanks and i
think its invading my tank
as well. SO i guess we cant rely on and fish or urchins to control it. The
sexual gametes are about 5 microns in size.They did a study on these and
found no female gametes. What they have found out is it seems that it
spreads by
vegatative reproduction thr


I have three varieties of that stuff including the "killer" one and
the hermit crabs have become huge decimating it in my fuge.
A few other weird crabs that hitchhiked in have also been seen eating
it. Must be the reason it doesn't do as well here in the Florida
waters, all our stuff eats it.
Now they are eating all my cheeto.