wow, just read this, kind of interesting

CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME CODE 2300. No person shall sell, possess, import, transport, transfer, release alive in the state, or give away without consideration the salt water algae of the Caulerpa species: taxifolia, cupressoides, mexicana, sertulariodes, floridana, ashmeadii, racemosa, verticillata, and scapelliformis. (b) Notwithstanding subdivision , a person may possess, for bona fide scientific research, as determined by the department, upon authorization by the department, the salt water algae of the Caulerpa species: taxifolia, cupressoides, mexicana, sertulariodes, floridana, ashmeadii, racemosa, verticillata, and scapelliformis. (c) In addition to any other penalty provided by law, any person who violates this section is subject to a civil penalty of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) and not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each violation.

They also say that the aquarium trade industry opposed this recommendation. Most home aquarists will not have the expertise to accurately distinguish legal or illegal products, but even more worrisome is that inspectors, importers and distributors may also lack this expertise.

 

It's very invasive in the ocean. It destroys natural areas. There's usually an ad in the aquarium magazines to dispose of it properly.

 

Yup....if you reed the desciption of macroalgae on reefcleaners.org, you willl see something like "cannot ship to CA" on some of them.

 

hmmm do i hear a need to smuggle algae over from Nevada? Open up your pocketbooks Californians!

 

See, that's what happens when people who don't know what the heck they're talking about are the ones passing legislation.

They got the C taxifolia in there but they missed C prolifera. The other species that are actually covered by the law are fairly benign.

 

they called it the killer algae in the mediterranian, its become kinda a epidemic there problem started in the 90s i think. out competing local flora. they still haven't decided how to kill it.

there weird thing is they don't know where this calurpa originated from. since it no longer bears resemblance to the original ocean caluerpa strain. it is thought to have mutated in our tanks to become literally a super strain.

also it has already infected areas in cali. so too late to worry about it now

 

I've read those warnings before and it makes me wonder if tanks should be housed with region specific species. Kinda like Gators don't belong in NYC sewer systems or Central Park......

 

it would help out a bit, but these scenarios would be unavoidable atleast at sea. with all the boats catching stuff, submarines taking in water and expeling it. it was originally thought caleurpa spread to the mediterranean by simply getting caught on a ship anchor. this theory of original infection was revoked when they realized the strain was different than any wild one.

survival of the fitest for better or worse.

 

I didn't even think about ships/boats carrying stuff and so since the theory was dispelled, would that mean it was introduced by careless(ignorant) disposal, or possibly with a simple water change?

 

There is a thing about pythons in the everglades that has hit the news. Don't know how old the problem is, but evidently they are growing to a size that will cause problems (was it with the local gators?). Something like that. Anyway, it isn't the first time a species has been introduced into an area from which they are not from....and then problems arise. Lionfish in the Caribbean is another thang......the list goes on and on.