Algae Corner: "What Is It?" - True Aquatic Moss / Bryophyta

Bryophyta: True Aquatic Moss

Many people may call algal mats or scums on their pond "moss", but moss is very different than algae. It's actually a plant in the phyla Bryophyta, so it lacks vascular tissue and stays pretty low-growing. It has cool alternate leaf blades with triangular pointed leaf heads. Many don't have true roots, but they can anchor with structures known as rhizoids.

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Has Many Names

Aquatic moss is commonly introduced through the aquarium trade. It has many names such as Phoenix moss or Weeping moss, Java moss, Flame moss, Willow moss, and even Taiwan moss. And it spans many different genera of classifications from Fissidens to Fontinalis and many others.

Easily Gets Out of Hand

True aquatic moss is incredibly adaptable. It can grow extremely thick, clog things up, and get out of hand. It can change based on the environmental conditions and doesn't mind cooler conditions. In fact, it often thrives in these more acidic conditions as there's much more dissolved CO2 to feed it.

Again, aquatic moss thrives in a wide range of habitats from streams and rivers and lakes to small bogs and ponds. It can be a huge nuisance, especially in irrigation canals, where it can be a hard problem to solve.

In Summary

Thankfully, we at SePRO have developed some neat solutions to strategically go after and solve these true aquatic moss issues. Get ahold of us if you want some help solving it, and thank you for tuning into this Algae Corner episode.