Caulerpa taxifolia (A Nova Show)

[radagalf]

There was a show on Nova last night on channels 43 (WTVS) and 27 (KCTS - think this is PBS) in the Vancouver area. I'm sure you should all be getting this show at one time or another on your local PBS station (North American folks).

It was entitled "Deep Sea Invasion" and details how a marine algae cultured for use in aquarium tanks has escaped into the wild and has become a threat in the Mediterranean, Australia, and has even been found in the San Diego area. A really neat program, but one that leaves you kind of scared to the invasive nature of organisms that are introduced to areas previously untouched by said organism(s).

Basically it renders a very diverse system, into one that is dominated by ONLY Caulerpa taxifolia, and totally destroys the natural beauty of it, the myriad of colours present previously is gone.

Just wondering if anyone had any more information on the algae, (besides doing internet searches, I can do this myself) aka is anyone a scientist, know one, doing research on it? or is anyone involved in a project with it?
Also, how many people have seen this show?

 

[Amanda]

It's funny to read about Caulerpa Taxifolia here in this board, since it is supposed to be a Mediterannean issue.

The only thing that I know and that, maybe, you won't find in the Web, is that this algae invasion was caused by human fault.

An employee of the "Monaco Oceanographic Museum" was asked to clean an aquarium free of a green, tropical algaecalled "Caulerpa Taxifolia" that was spreading around the aquarium too quickly. That guy, although trained properly, was too tired to throw it away in the proper wastebasket and therefore, just threw it into the sea.

(This Museum is built on a cliff that overlooks the sea, so the windows of the area the employee was working on were directly above the sea)

... he thought that a tropical algae could not resist the cold waters of the Mediterrannean of thet winter.

But it did. And it spread more and more.
Tha guy was fired, but the real story of the invasion was kept secret. I only know it because I know a friend of mine who works in this Museum.

 

[MASS-Diver]

I use a couple species of Caulerpa in my reef aquariums. It's illegal to sell in LFS in alot of states, but, I've heard that it's spread is also from tanker ballasts.

Check out www.reefcentral.com and ask some of the experts, who hold advance degrees in various disciplies for their view.

 

[gzscuba]

I found the show somewhere around its halfway point, and watched it to the end. Your comments were very interesting Amanda because the show stated that the likely source of the taxifolia was from the Monaco Museum. However, they said that people didn't want to dig too deeply because they projected that the infestation probably started when JY Cousteau was in charge of the museum (I'm just repeated this from the show, so forgive me if it's incorrect).

More amusingly, they found a man who was a former executive at the Museum who was convinced for a long time that the infestation was a natural occurence. He sounded like he still thought that way.

However, the taxifolia is a world problem because there are probably fish tanks on every continent (okay, except antarctica) that have taxifolia. The show mentioned a sighting in California. This was brought under control by massive extermination using chlorine bleach. They said that Australia has had a sighting also, and that they were considering fighting it with copper sulfate:wacko:

There was also mention of a french scientist (not sure what kind) that had collaborated with someone to find a tropical sea slug that can feed on taxifolia and kill it. Understandably, the authorities are a little wary of simply releasing another non-native species into the ocean.

I was captivated by the show, though. Definitely worth watching.

 

[Amanda]

gzscuba once bubbled...
However, they said that people didn't want to dig too deeply because they projected that the infestation probably started when JY Cousteau was in charge of the museum (I'm just repeated this from the show, so forgive me if it's incorrect).

No, you're not incorrect, that's what they say .

gzscuba once bubbled...
However, the taxifolia is a world problem because there are probably fish tanks on every continent (okay, except antarctica) that have taxifolia. The show mentioned a sighting in California. This was brought under control by massive extermination using chlorine bleach.

In fact, it appears that even bleach cannot be very effective for fighting the taxifolia problem...
I read somewhere that they even tried to put cement on the algae, but it didn't work.

Nasty stuff.

 

[kelpmermaid]

Most area dive shops now have a poster about caulpera taxifolia and what to do and who to call if you see it. A seaweed from Japan (undaria pinnatifida - you may have eaten it as wakame) has also been spotted locally, and there is a "wanted" poster out on that. That may have arrived in ship ballast. I wonder what DrBill might have to say on this...

 

[radagalf]

I have a fairly good knowledge of invasive species, and the methods of trying to get rid of non-native species being transported in ballast water (many different forms including open ocean exchange, chlorination, deoxygenation, etc.).

I guess what I'm really looking for is if there are any people who are more involved scientifically with this organism, what is it with its physiology that allows it to be such a hardy organism? How is it able to grow so fast - as in how is it able to take in so many nutrients to support its growth, especially as coastal areas are generally nitrate or silicate limited? And how does it grow, the show mentioned runners, and so did a website, which leads me to believe it grows like a strawberry plant, but is this assumption of mine correct?

I find the problem with the Nova shows, is they only ever present a real brief overview of a topic, and never delve deep into it and present answers. All I ever get are questions from these shows.
(Yes, questions are good... but SOME answers would also be nice)

 

[radagalf]

kelpmermaid once bubbled...
Most area dive shops now have a poster about caulpera taxifolia and what to do and who to call if you see it.

Do you have/know of somewhere I could view this poster??? I am very interested in seeing this.

kelpmermaid once bubbled...
A seaweed from Japan (undaria pinnatifida - you may have eaten it as wakame) has also been spotted locally, and there is a "wanted" poster out on that. That may have arrived in ship ballast. I wonder what DrBill might have to say on this...

I haven't heard of this one, but one of the most invasive species to come from Japan is Sargassum muticum, which I have done some uni projects on...

here is a good link about it:
http://www.mbari.org/~conn/botany/browns/jacquie/default.htm

 

[kelpmermaid]

Radagalf - I might be going into the shop tomorrow, and if so, I'll look to see the source, but you might want to look at this:

http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/~rwqcb9/programs/caulerpa/caulerpa.html

Also, I think that the Orange County Coastkeepers did a hunt in Newport harbor a while back. I'm sure they have a website.

 

[radagalf]

Thanks Kelpmermaid!!!