# Weird Seaweed Looking Stuff: What Is This?



## misant777 (Mar 21, 2014)

Hey all,

I got a little tiny sample of this plant a couple weeks ago with about a dozen juvenile cherry shrimp.

The plant has no evident roots, rhizomes or stolons. It exists in a free form, abstractly spreading, thin, ribbon like diaphanous green seaweed. I have zero idea what this stuff is. If it were terrestrial, I'd assume it to be some sort of lichen. It must be some sort of algae, right? It looks to me very much like the ulva lactuca on this guy's page:
http://eat-a-bug.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html

It's spreading like crazy compared to the teensy bit of it I acquired less than 2 weeks ago! I'm hoping this stuff really takes off because it's really pretty neat.

I apologize if the pics aren't great, but my phone is all I have to work with.



















Does anyone know what this is?

Thank you!

Edit: I think this guy might have the same thing, or at least something similar. 
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/a...-free-aquarium-plant-so-help-me-identify.html

Yeah, it sure looks like Lomariopsis lineata fragments. Maybe that's what it actually is? Not sure how to tell for certain without genetic testing. It doesn't look like it has any choice but to be an epiphyte.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

You are right, it is a freshwater seaweed it is called Subwassertang. It makes a nice aquarium plant when it gets going. Doesn't really need much care or anything special.


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## h4n (Dec 23, 2005)

Also goes by round pellia


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

Just for the record isn't it a fern?


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## Tugg (Jul 28, 2013)

Well crud... I was told that Subwassertang was the old name, and it's been reclassed and should now be called Pellia. But this article says thats not right. If its "pellia" then its a liverwort.
http://www.tropica.com/en/plants/plant-articles/monosolenium-tenerum.aspx

If its Subwassertang, then its a fern:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%BCsswassertang


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## misant777 (Mar 21, 2014)

Thanks guys! 

You know, even though I get that ferns are some of the most ancient species on earth, I never cease to be amazed at all the strange and varied forms they've managed to evolve into over the eons. This one, for example, is a pretty wondrous variation on the theme. I would probably never have assumed it belonged to the ferns. Life is amazing.


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## miremonster (Mar 26, 2006)

There's also a longer thread about that, but there's a lot of facts that can be found somewhere else in the web:
- German "Süßwassertang" (Suesswassertang = Freshwater seaweed) => misspelled "Subwassertang" by English speakers.
- It's a gametophyte = prothallium of a fern, most closely related to the Asian fern species Lomariopsis lineata. (Detected by molecular analysis some years ago).

[edit] Now I see that Tugg has already linked the Wikipedia entry, sorry.


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