The New Mediterranean

After reading through Iron's thread on overfishing. I found it interesting that people would be more concerned about overfishing in the Mediterranean instead of Caulerpa Taxifolia.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-...mn_seaweed.jpg
The new Mediterranean. A lush green carpet.

I'm curious on yall's opinions on the subject. What do most Europeans think of the destruction of the mediterranean ecosystem and what do you think should be done? Also I'm concerned that the USA has yet to ban owning this popular aquarium seaweed, since it only takes a near microscopic fragment to restart an entire growth. After the small patch was found in California I had figured at least there would be a ban then, but still its been 3 years and nothing has been done really to prevent it.

Also I'm curious how bad has it gotten in Australia? I know its spread pretty bad over there but I'm not sure how bad.

And is anyone supporting the French idea of killing, or at least stalling, it with a horde of seaweed eating snails?

Here's a good fact book and article on the veratious seaweedhttp://www.sbg.ac.at/ipk/avstudio/pierofun/ct/ct-1.htm.

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Originally Posted by BigTex

After reading through Iron's thread on overfishing. I found it interesting that people would be more concerned about overfishing in the Mediterranean instead of Caulerpa Taxifolia.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-...mn_seaweed.jpg
The new Mediterranean. A lush green carpet.

Also I'm curious how bad has it gotten in Australia? I know its spread pretty bad over there but I'm not sure how bad.

And is anyone supporting the French idea of killing, or at least stalling, it with a horde of seaweed eating snails?

Here's a good fact book and article on the veratious seaweedhttp://www.sbg.ac.at/ipk/avstudio/pierofun/ct/ct-1.htm.

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I think the Australians have learned that using one animal to get rid of a pest/other animal quickly turns into another huge problem. What to do with all the snails.

I support a prevention rather than a cure TBH. Having said that, you won't come across an organisation/State thats willing to make the right decision(severely cut back on fishing), put people out of work and become incredibly unpopular and then have to patrol the fishing grounds with a fleet of cruisers to catch illegal fishermen. A big pile of snails is the obvious choice then.


I suppose the FRENCH in particular have an idea how to get rid of their leaf eating friends once the job is done.

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Originally Posted by ezrider

I think the Australians have learned that using one animal to get rid of a pest/other animal quickly turns into another huge problem. What to do with all the snails.

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If you're lucky and that the implanted animal doesn't eat anything else than the plant/animal you want removed, then it works very well though. You need a lot of testing before putting in that new specie though.

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Originally Posted by ezrider

I suppose the FRENCH in particular have an idea how to get rid of their leaf eating friends once the job is done.

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I would guess they simply run out of food and starve out.

Oh come on! snails, the French - escargot -yummie

About the snails: Yeah, suppposedly all the snails eat is that weed, so.....

Anyone know of any other out breaks of this stuff in the states?

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Originally Posted by discovery1

About the snails: Yeah, suppposedly all the snails eat is that weed, so.....

Anyone know of any other out breaks of this stuff in the states?

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So far no just that one in a small lagoon in California. Which was set on fire, incinerated, had its ashes soaked in chlorine and then beaten for 3 hours. Another outbreak is just a matter of time, it only takes 1 cell of this plant to form an entire growth. Any aquraium hobbyist washing out his tank outdoors with this in it can literrally cause an outbreak of it.

We've gotten quite lucky on this so far, most of the mediterranean's natural sealife is going quickly to the endangered species list. Supposedly the snails/slugs only eat the seaweed, but they can't even survive down to the colder depths the Caulerpa Toxifolia is at. The seaweed also changes the chemical nature of the soil it grows in, removing a growth now wont even help the natural sealife bounce back. Quite sad, kinda funy though it came from Germany.