View Full Version : marine plants
liquafaction
10-25-2003, 1:37 PM
Anyone have any good places to look for salt water plants?
I have tried marine depot, and live aquaria dot com
I don't know of many marine plants. I'm not sure but most plant like marine organisms fit into the macro algea category. Perhaps Kelps and Sea Grass would fit into a plant category but I don't think so.
slipknottin
10-26-2003, 9:20 AM
http://billsreef.safeshopper.com/30/cat30.htm?183
liquafaction
10-26-2003, 7:55 PM
ok, Does anyone know a good place to find plant like greenery? I thought mangroves were plants. I did not notice, but aquarialive, has there marine plants section with a (algea) beside the plant topic.
slipknottin
10-26-2003, 10:32 PM
Greenery like what? this isnt greenery?
http://www.floridaoceanographic.org/environ/images/seagrass/thalassia.jpg
The only aquatic plants are marine grasses.
Mangroves arent aquatic plants. Neither are macroalgaes.
However, if you want to buy red mangroves, heres a site http://www.mangroves-n-more.com/mangroves.html
mogurnda
10-27-2003, 9:09 AM
Inland Aquatics (http://www.inlandaquatics.com) has an excellent selection of macroalgae. No pictures, unfortunately, but you can google to find out. Algaebase used to be good, but that site died.
Slip, I'm not sure what you mean about macroalgae not being aquatic plants. They are not vascular plants, but they are still in the plant kingdom.
Liquafaction, what kind of stuff were you looking for? Grassy, floaty?
slipknottin
10-27-2003, 9:36 AM
They are not true plants.
The green algae (phylum Chlorophyta) are closely related to the green plants and in fact are considered by many biologists to be true plants. In addition to many species of green macroalgae, this phylum also includes many microscopic species that live as single cells, or clusters or filaments of cells.
Brown algae such as the giant kelps mentioned above are quite different organisms belonging to the phylum Phaeophyta.
The red algae are yet another group in a separate phylum (phylum Rhodophyta). These are extremely diverse in their growth forms and colors. Some are filamentous or form turf-like growths, while many others are bushy or "leafy", and others form hard rock-like growths. Though many are red, pink or purple in color, and many other species are some shade of brown, practically any color can be found among the species in this phylum.
mogurnda
10-27-2003, 9:50 AM
I don't mean to be argumentative, but even the (unattributed) quote you provide suggests that there is debate as to whether the chlorophyta should be included among the true plants. When I go to databases, such as Tree of Life (http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Eukaryotes&contgroup=Life), it looks like the whole base of the plants, algae, etc, is an unresolved gamisch.
It looks like I was wrong about the red and brown algae, though. Live and learn.
reefpicker
10-28-2003, 1:43 PM
Hi,
Algae are algae. They are simple organisms. Some macroalges have rhizoids which are functionally similar to roots but not the same. many are single celled "plants" such as the Valonia, etc. The life cycle of algae is very different and in a way more complex than that of true plants...
For us, as hobbyist, I doubt that we should be concerned about the systematics or classifications of algae. It only matters that most of what we grow as "plants" in our tanks are in fact algae and that this algae are simple organism... We should know that they thrive on nitrogen and phosphate just like plants.... etc... etc...
Grasses are true plants, and there are even true flowering plants that can grow underwater in the ocean, this plant are even more "advanced" than grasses.
mogurnda
10-29-2003, 10:09 AM
Basically I agree with Reefpicker. The precise phylogeny doesn't matter as much as the fact that many species are attractive and useful in the tank or refugium.
Plantbrain had a thread about doing a macroalgae-only setup. I wonder how it's doing.
liquafaction
10-29-2003, 4:08 PM
Did not mean to start a debate. All that I was trying to say in my last post is that you guys are right about plants and algae. I went back and looked where I found marine "plants" and they were subtitled as algae. The link you click says MARINE PLANTS, and the page you go to say Plant (algae).
This plant link inspired me to look for plants (being that I grew up in a plant nursery, this intrested me) now that I realize there is not really a true "rooted" plant for marine use, I am now intrested in finding a web sight with a bigger selection of something (weather it be algae, or coral) that is green and resembles a plant.
mogurnda
10-29-2003, 5:45 PM
There are species of sargassum that you might like.
slipknottin
10-30-2003, 9:38 AM
Originally posted by liquafaction
now that I realize there is not really a true "rooted" plant for marine use.
Oh but there is, that was my point. Sea grasses are true 'rooted' marine plants. Some of them even flower. Turtle grass, manatee grass, paddle grass, etc. etc.
http://www.floridaoceanographic.org/environ/seagrass2.htm