Seaweed
Seaweed or macroalgae refers to several species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of red, brown, and green macroalgae. Marine algae species such as kelps provide essential nursery habitat for fisheries and other marine species and thus protect food sources; ocean algae species from seaweeds to planktons play a vital role in carbon capture, producing up to 90 percent of the planet's oxygen. Understanding these roles provides guiding principles for conservation and sustainable use of seaweeds to take precedence over industrial exploitation. Mechanical dredging of kelp, for instance, destroys the resource and dependent fisheries. Certain species of seaweed are valuable for nutrition, biomedicine, bioremediation, and other uses.
Caulerpa brachypus
In Florida, this seaweed has been dubbed the "killer algae". First recorded in the state in 1999, by 2003 it had shown explosive growth and spread widely, with some near shore reefs in Palm Beach County becoming so overwhelmed that fish and lobsters were no longer present. During hurricanes in 2004, it was scoured from the rocky reefs and disappeared, but over the next few years, it became re-established, once more forming dense stands. It is thought to become so abundant on Florida's coast because of the sewage outflows which result in extra nutrients being present in the water. Such extensive algal cover is likely to kill corals, sponges and other sessile invertebrates, and force more mobile organisms to move elsewhere.