Plant identification

[Sfeld407]

Can anyone identify this plant that is growing on my rock in many places? Is it good or bad?

 

[ReeferMac]

Looks like a type of halimeda. Is it hard and calcerous, or leathery in texture? Or is it soft like a caulerpa?

- Mac

 

[Sfeld407]

I usually do not put my hands in the tank with thick long rubber gloves, but i put on a medical quality thin latex glove to feel the leaves and they are not hard. They are soft and leafy like a garden plant and not spongy. The leaves are not very thick. They are about the thickness of a photographic paper.

 

[ReeferMac]

Yeah, I would still guess towards halimeda. Try plugging "Marine plant identification" into your favorite search engine, and see if that doesn't come up with a few hits. If you know where the rock came from (Carribean vs. Pacific) that it's growing on, it might narrow things down for you.
Pretty algae, regardless of what it turns out to be.

- Mac

 

[Sfeld407]

I think it was a Gulf of Mexico aquacultured rock.

 

[Kirbster]

I would say it's certainly Halimeda, but I'd need a better pic to say what species. Could be H. tuna., H. copiosa, or H. discoidea. Do the pieces grow up from their attachment point or cascade down from where they are attached?

 

[Sfeld407]

They grow up from the rock, with a semi-circular ragged edge leaf and the next leaf grows up from the leaf under it thru a very short stalk. When a leaf is large then 2 leaves grow up from that leaf, which makes the plant wider.

 

[Kirbster]

Sounds like Halimeda tuna. Very common throughout the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.