Codium fragile

Last updated

Contents

Codium fragile
Codiumfragile.jpg
Codium fragile on the Massachusetts coast
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
(unranked): Viridiplantae
Division: Chlorophyta
Class: Ulvophyceae
Order: Bryopsidales
Family: Codiaceae
Genus: Codium
Species:
C. fragile
Binomial name
Codium fragile
(Suringar) Hariot

Codium fragile, known commonly as green sea fingers, dead man's fingers, felty fingers, [1] forked felt-alga, stag seaweed, [2] sponge seaweed, [3] green sponge, [4] green fleece, [5] sea staghorn, [6] and oyster thief, [7] is a species of seaweed in the family Codiaceae. It originates in the Pacific Ocean near Japan and has become an invasive species on the coasts of the Northern Atlantic Ocean.

Description

This siphonous green alga is of two subspecies in Great Britain and Ireland. They are similar, both are dark green in color. It forms long erect finger-like fronds. These grow to 40 cm or more long branching dichotomously. The cortex of the branches is formed by closely packed utricles, these are small cylindrical club-shaped structures formed from a single cell up to 1200 μm (micrometres) long. [8] The rounded tips of these closely packed utricles give the frond a velvety texture. [9] The fronds hang down from rocks during low tide, hence the nickname "dead man's fingers". [10] The "fingers" are branches up to a centimeter wide and sometimes over 30 centimeters long.

Codium fragile occurs in the low intertidal zone, and subtidal on high-energy beaches.

It has no gametophyte stage, and male and female gametes are both produced on separate plants.

Subspecies

Subspecies of C. fragile can only be distinguished microscopically.

Codium fragile subsp. atlanticum

This subspecies can be distinguished by the mucron or tip of the utricles. In this subspecies the mucron is short, no more than 20 μm long. [8]

Codium fragile subsp. atlanticum is known to have arrived in the southwest of Ireland around 1808. From there it may have spread by rafting or floating in the sea. Approximately 30 years later, it was found in Scotland. It is thought to have originally come from the Pacific Ocean near Japan.

Since 1840, when it was first discovered in Scotland, it has spread the entire length of Britain, including Shetland. Between 1949 and 1955 it is known to have spread between Berwick-upon-Tweed and St. Andrews, Fife, a distance of 80 km. Populations of this algae occur mostly in northern Britain. Elsewhere in Europe it is found in several places, including Norway, Netherlands, France, Spain and the Azores.

This species displaces the native Codium tomentosum .

Codium fragile subsp. atlanticum is used as food in the Far East. [11]

Close-up Codium fragile (Suringar) Hariot, 1889.jpg
Close-up

Codium fragile subsp. tomentosoides

This subspecies is distinguished from C.fragile subsp. atlanticum by its very pointed mucron (the tip of the utricle) – up to μm 68 long. [8]

The subspecies Codium fragile subsp. tomentosoides [12] [13] (syn. Codium mucronatum var. tomentosoides), occurs along nearly the whole coastline of the eastern United States, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada to North Carolina. It is a rapidly spreading invasive species. [1] It originated in the Pacific Ocean around Japan, and was introduced into New York from Europe in 1957. Its presence was first recorded in 1964 in the Gulf of Maine at Boothbay. It is now recorded around Ireland. [14] It has also been recorded from the Scilly Isles, the Channel Islands, and the south and west coasts of England and Scotland. [8]

This is a dominant subspecies in the subtidal zone, attaching to almost any hard surface. This results in increased maintenance labor for aquaculturists and reduces the productivity of cultured marine life. In established shellfish beds, this species can become a nuisance; it may attach to shellfish and then float away, carrying the animals with it. This was the inspiration for the common name "oyster thief". [7]

Codium fragile subsp. scandinavicum

This subspecies was introduced from Asiatic coasts of the Pacific to Norway, and to Denmark in 1919. [11]

Codium fragile subsp. novae-zelandiae

This subspecies is found in the low intertidal to subtidal zones around New Zealand at the North Island, South Island, Chatham Islands, Stewart Island, Auckland Island, Campbell Island as well as around the Falkland Islands. [15]

Related Research Articles

<i>Palmaria palmata</i> Species of edible alga

Palmaria palmata, also called dulse, dillisk or dilsk, red dulse, sea lettuce flakes, or creathnach, is a red alga (Rhodophyta) previously referred to as Rhodymenia palmata. It grows on the northern coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It is a well-known snack food. In Iceland, where it is known as söl, it has been an important source of dietary fiber throughout the centuries.

<i>Ascophyllum</i> Species of seaweed

Ascophyllum nodosum is a large, common cold water seaweed or brown alga (Phaeophyceae) in the family Fucaceae. Its common names include knotted wrack, egg wrack, feamainn bhuí, rockweed, knotted kelp and Norwegian kelp. It grows only in the northern Atlantic Ocean, along the north-western coast of Europe including east Greenland and the north-eastern coast of North America. Its range further south of these latitudes is limited by warmer ocean waters. It dominates the intertidal zone. Ascophyllum nodosum has been used numerous times in scientific research and has even been found to benefit humans through consumption.

<i>Macrocystis</i> Genus of large brown algae

Macrocystis is a monospecific genus of kelp with all species now synonymous with Macrocystis pyrifera. It is commonly known as giant kelp or bladder kelp. This genus contains the largest of all the Phaeophyceae or brown algae. Macrocystis has pneumatocysts at the base of its blades. Sporophytes are perennial and the individual may live for up to three years; stipes/fronds within a whole individual undergo senescence, where each frond may persist for approximately 100 days. The genus is found widely in subtropical, temperate, and sub-Antarctic oceans of the Southern Hemisphere and in the northeast Pacific from Baja California to Sitka, Alaska. Macrocystis is often a major component of temperate kelp forests.

<i>Codium</i> Genus of algae

Codium is a genus of edible green macroalgae under the order Bryopsidales. The genus name is derived from a Greek word that pertains to the soft texture of its thallus. One of the foremost experts on Codium taxonomy was Paul Claude Silva at the University of California, Berkeley. P.C. Silva was able to describe 36 species for the genus and in honor of his work on Codium, the species C. silvae was named after the late professor.

<i>Colpomenia peregrina</i> Species of seaweed

Colpomenia peregrina, sometimes referred to by its vernacular names oyster thief and bladder weed, is a species of brown seaweed.

Rhipiliopsis is a genus of green algae in the family Rhipiliaceae. Johnson-sea-linkia is a synonym.

<i>Ulva intestinalis</i> Species of marine chlorophyte green alga

Ulva intestinalis is a green alga in the family Ulvaceae, known by the common names sea lettuce, green bait weed, gutweed, and grass kelp. Until they were reclassified by genetic work completed in the early 2000s, the tubular members of the sea lettuce genus Ulva were placed in the genus Enteromorpha.

<i>Fucus distichus</i> Species of alga

Fucus distichus or rockweed is a species of brown alga in the family Fucaceae to be found in the intertidal zones of rocky seashores in the Northern Hemisphere, mostly in rock pools.

<i>Codium tomentosum</i> Species of alga

Codium tomentosum is a species of green seaweed in the family Codiaceae. Its common names include velvet horn and spongeweed.

Lobophora variegata is a species of small thalloid brown alga which grows intertidally or in shallow water in tropical and warm temperate seas. It has three basic forms, being sometimes ruffled, sometimes reclining and sometimes encrusting, and each form is typically found in a different habitat. This seaweed occurs worldwide. It is the type species of the genus Lobophora, the type locality being the Antilles in the West Indies.

<i>Bonnemaisonia hamifera</i> Species of alga

Bonnemaisonia hamifera is a species of red alga in the family Bonnemaisoniaceae. Originally from the Pacific Ocean, it has been introduced into the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, where it is considered invasive on European coasts. It exists in two phases which, at one time, were thought to be different species; a medium-sized feathery form attached to other seaweeds, and a small tufted form known as Trailliella.

<i>Codium arabicum</i> Species of alga

Codium arabicum, commonly known as green sea cushion, is a species of seaweed in the Codiaceae family.

Codium dwarkense is a species of seaweed in the Codiaceae family.

<i>Codium spongiosum</i> Species of seaweed

Codium spongiosum is a species of seaweed in the family Codiaceae.

Saccharina dentigera is a species of brown algae, in the family Laminariaceae. It is native to shallow water in the northeastern Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of Alaska to Baja California.

<i>Codium bursa</i> Species of alga

Codium bursa is a green marine algae of medium size.

<i>Hildenbrandia rubra</i> Species of alga

Hildenbrandia rubra is a marine species of thalloid red alga. It forms thin reddish crusts on rocks and pebbles in the intertidal zone and the shallow subtidal zone. It is a common species with a cosmopolitan distribution, and is able to tolerate a wide range of conditions.

Codium edule is a green alga common on shallow reef flats from the intertidal to the subtidal in tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific. The species is common in Hawaiʻi where it is usually called wāwaeʻiole and considered an edible alga or limu. Prominent ethnobotanist Isabella Abbott described its usage in her writing.

References

  1. 1 2 Codium fragile (Dead man's fingers, felty fingers). Archived 27 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Intertidal Organisms EZ ID Guides. Island County Beachwatchers. Washington State University Extension. 2006.
  2. ↑ Invasive Species in the Pacific Northwest, P. Dee Boersma, Sarah H. Reichard, Amy N. Van Buren, 2006, ISBN   978-0-29598596-1, 208 at Google Books
  3. ↑ Guiry, M. D. Codium fragile (Suringar) Hariot, 1889. In: Guiry, M.D. & G. M. Guiry. (2013). AlgaeBase. National University of Ireland, Galway. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS).
  4. ↑ Codium fragile ssp. tomentosoides (Dead Man's Fingers). Archived 17 July 2012 at archive.today Marine Invasive Species in Nova Scotia. Benthic Ecology Lab, Dalhousie University. 2001.
  5. ↑ Costa, J. Codium algae population explosion in Wareham. Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program.
  6. ↑ "Sea staghorn • Codium fragile". Biodiversity of the Central Coast. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  7. 1 2 Oyster Thief (Codium fragile spp. fragile). Archived 13 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine Aquatic Invasive Species. Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Burrows,E.M. 1991. Seaweeds of the British Isles. Natural History Museum, London ISBN   0-565-00981-8
  9. ↑ Dickinson, C.I. 1963 British Seaweeds. The Kew Series, Eyre & Spottiswoode
  10. ↑ Codium fragile: Dead Man's Fingers. Archived 16 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. 1996.
  11. 1 2 Codium fragile ssp. atlanticum. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, UK.
  12. ↑ Codium fragile ssp. tomentosoides. Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Global Invasive Species Database. ISSG.
  13. ↑ Codium fragile ssp. tomentosoides. Introduced Species: Descriptions. MIT Sea Grant.
  14. ↑ Morton, O. 2003. The marine macroalgae of County Donegal, Ireland. Bulletin of Ireland biogeography Society No 27: 3 – 164
  15. ↑ W. A., Nelson (2013). New Zealand seaweeds : an illustrated guide. Wellington, New Zealand: Te Papa Press. p. 30. ISBN   9780987668813. OCLC   841897290.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.