Any newcomer takes time to size up. And when one makes its entrance as slowly and subtly as Gracilaria vermiculophylla — a red alga native to the Pacific — did in the Chesapeake Bay, it can be even harder to determine whether its introduction will be helpful or harmful.
The reddish branches of Gracilaria vermiculophylla, seen here in Delaware waters, have spread through Virginia waters. Scientists say that, under certain conditions, the presence of this nonnative alga may be a boost for aquatic habitat. ( © SA Krueger-Hadfield)
Today, as Gracilaria has become widespread in Virginia waters, questions continue to swirl around it. Scientists disagree over when the species came to the Bay, how it arrived and what its proper name should be. (In November, one group published a paper in the journal Phytotaxa proposing that it be reclassified as Agarophyton vermiculophyllum.) But even more significantly, scientists are wrestling with the thorny question of whether Gracilaria will prove a net positive or negative for the estuary.
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