December 05, 2005

12/6 - "Jellyfish" Attack in Canada! This is a job for ... me

Yikes. The creatures that I spent 5 years studying on coral reefs around the world are now invading the mussel and scallop beds of Canada. The genus name is Didemnum (I did my Ph.D. dissertation on the larvae of Didemnum molle). They're also called Sea Squirts, and apparently are overgrowing mussel and scallop beds, sounding very much like an invasive species. Good luck to the Canadians.

Didemnum.jpg

The offending sea squirt smothering mussels in New Zealand

Posted by Randy Olson at December 5, 2005 12:50 PM
Comments

They're not just invading Canada... - California, New Zealand, The Gulf of Maine - it's everywhere...if it's all the same species, which is under some debate currently.

Posted by: Jarrett at December 5, 2005 06:44 PM

Ah, MT ate my link - http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/stellwagen/didemnum/

Posted by: Jarrett at December 5, 2005 06:45 PM

That's amazing. "When Good Species Turn Bad" -- what makes an innocent little sea squirt suddenly into a hated invasive species? I suppose just a few random introductions is enough. Thanks for the link.

Posted by: Randy Olson at December 6, 2005 11:48 AM