Re: Sacoglossans vs Caulerpa taxifolia

July 22, 2000
From: Cynthia Trowbridge

Dear Bill and Kathe,

The spread of the invasive green alga Caulerpa taxifolia is only one of many species of macroalgae, accidentally introduced to distant shores. Many invaders are potentials hosts to ascoglossan (=sacoglossan) slugs. Notable examples include two species of Caulerpa, three subspecies of Codium fragile, many species of the red alga Polysiphonia, many species of Chaetomorpha and Cladophora, etc., etc.

The suggested introduction of slugs from Florida to the Mediterranean is only one recent suggestion of biological control that has been made. Other suggestions have been made at conferences and in research in press and in prep. by various ecologists. Thus, my comments about considerations of biological control were designed to be *general* considerations for introduced macroalgae and potential biological control, not specific to Caulerpa taxifolia per se.

In some cases, the potential consumers (putative control agents) have functional chloroplasts; in other cases, the potential consumers do not. I made no statements about specific species of slugs; I apologize to Kathe and any others who assumed that I was making specific comments. I personally work on a different suite of introduced macroalgae (Codium fragile and Polysiphonia spp.).

It would be interesting to hear others' views. Thank you for considering my comments.

Cordially,

Cynthia Trowbridge

Hatfield Marine Science Center
Oregon State University

trowbric@ucs.orst.edu

Trowbridge, C., 2000 (Jul 22) Re: Sacoglossans vs Caulerpa taxifolia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/2766

Factsheet

Caulerpa taxifolia in the Mediterranean

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