Invasion
Invasion Description
1st Record?:Florida/Atlantic Ocean (1884, US National Museum of Natural History 2019)
Geographic Extent
Coconut Grove, Miami-DadeCounty (1899, USNM 5350, US National Museum of Natural History 2017); Key Largo/FL/Florida Straits-Biscayne Bay (Kooistra and Verbruggen 2005); Bache Shoals-Key Largo (Lirman and Biber 2000); Dry Tortugas/FL/Gulf of Mexico (Taylor, W.R. (1928). The marine algae of Florida with special reference to the Dry Tortugas. Publications of the Carnegie Institution of Washington 379: [i-] v, [1]- 219, 3 figs, 7 tables, 37 plates., cited by Guiry and Donncha 2008); Boot Key/FL/Gulf of Mexico (1974, USNM 19744, US National Museum of Natural History 2010); Old Rhodes Key/FL/Biscayne Bay (1895, USNM 53508, US National Museum of Natural History 2010); Key West/FL/Gulf of Mexico (1902, USNM 68662, US National Museum of Natural History 2017)
Vectors
| Level | Vector |
|---|---|
| Probable | Hull Fouling |
Regional Impacts
| Ecological Impact | Food/Prey | |
The calcareous alga Halimeda opuntia is an important food for two species of parrotifishes (Caridae, Sparisoma spp), and probably for other herbivorous fishes (Munoz and Motta 2000) | ||