VLIZ Alien Species Consortium (2022). Sargassum muticum. Niet-inheemse soorten in het Belgisch deel van de Noordzee en aanpalende estuaria = Non-indigenous species from the Belgian part of the North Sea and estuaria. VLIZ Alien Species Consortium (VLIZ): Oostende. Diff. pag. pp.
Part of: Niet-inheemse soorten in het Belgisch deel van de Noordzee en omliggende estuaria = Non-indigenous species from the Belgian part of the North Sea and estuaria. VLIZ Alien Species Consortium (VLIZ): Ostend. ISSN 2983-5518, more
Related to:
VLIZ Alien Species Consortium (2020). Sargassum muticum - Japans bessenwier, in: Verleye, T. et al.Niet-inheemse soorten in het Belgisch deel van de Noordzee en aanpalende estuaria. VLIZ Special Publication, 86: pp. 95-103, more
Japanese wireweed Sargassum muticum is native to the coasts of Japan, Russia, Korea and China. This brown seaweed got imported to Europe with Japanese oysters (either coming from Asia or a with Japanese wireweed infected Canadian broodstock). Although Japanese wireweed has been regularly washed ashore since the 1970s, the first attached specimens were found in 1999 in the Port of Zeebrugge. In areas where Japanese wireweed has successfully invaded (not in Belgium), it displaces native species due to its rapid growth. On the other hand, floating seaweed assemblages support a rich community of marine organisms that use the seaweed as a source of food, shelter, foraging area or attachment surface.
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