Hitchhiker ID Needed - Short Video

[Beverly]

WOW!! I am totally stunned with surprise and respect for Charles Delbeek

He saw the videos I posted to Aquarium Fish Magazine, and sent me an email from Hawaii where he's vacationing. He says when he gets back to his library at home, he's going to try to ID the genus of our red blob. Like, WOW, man

Thanks, Vic, for the great suggestion

[Delphinus]

He may be on vacation but he actually lives there since he's the curator of the Waikiki Aquarium (or one of them). Anyhow that's cool that you'll get a response from him.

[Beverly]

After a bit of back and forth with Charles Delbeek, this is what he's concluded about our red blob....

It is virtually impossible to accurately ID macroalgae from photos of whole specimens. Some species even have completely different growth forms in different parts of their life cycle (e.g. Aspharagopsis (sp??)). Anyone who does any sort of macroalgae taxonomic work can only ID to species using a microscope and even then it is not 100% for certain they will get the right species. So my advice is to just call it Predaea sp., you will not be able to ID to species without a taxonomic key and a microscope and several years experience.

Seems pretty harmless to me and easily controlled. Enjoy it while you can, many macroalgae are seasonal.

So, Predaea sp. it is