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Re: Caulerpa
-----Original Message-----
From: Moontanman at aol_com <Moontanman at aol_com>
> I been reading an aquatic plants group mail and it seems there is a
ruckus
>brewing about aquariums plants and introductions from aquariums. Some of
it
>is freshwater but one plant is saltwater, calaurpa taxifolia, released into
>the Mediterranean by the Monaco aquarium. It seems to be taking over and
is
>endangering wildlife as well as swimmers! Sounds like a nightmare!
Science News had an article on this introduction in the past few weeks. It's
only a nightmare for those who don't want the Med to become a monoculture of
Caulerpa. They are considering introducing snails from the western Atlantic
to control the pesky weed. Are they going to create a whole new set of
introduced species problems? They are giving the same old story: the
introduced snails can't breed here, they'll die after they eat the algae,
blah, blah. We've all heard this stuff before. I wish the people in that
region good luck. I don't care who introduced these plants or how or why
they introduced them, these are the types of stories that make it necessary
for aquarists to be very careful about what they say and do regarding
introductions! (no, I don't want to reopen that debate; just had to get my 2
cents [1.5 cents?] worth in).
Ed Matheson