Videos

DEEP SEA INVASION

58 minutes, produced 2000 by NOVA.

"It's like out of a horror movie...but it's real," claims one marine biologist about the innocent-looking algae that is actually threatening ecosystems from the Mediterranean Sea to the California coast.

Bred for its beauty, fast growth, and tolerance for cold, the "aquarium strain" of Caulerpa taxifolia, a bright green seaweed with fernlike fronds that is used to decorate saltwater aquariums, "escaped" from human control in the 1980s and has spread like a cancer through the Mediterranean, overwhelming native species and habitats.

When the "killer algae" were first noticed, divers easily could have hand-pulled all of the seaweed up, nipping in the bud what has become an explosive bioinvasion. Regrettably, this was not done.

Today, the noxious weed covers vast areas around the globe, causing many marine experts to dub it an ecological disaster. This documentary tracks the past, present, and future of this killer algae.

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