What Type Of Seagrass Is This?

Flec

Anyone know?  It is from the Indian River Lagoon Tuesday 5/11/21.

saltyreefer

All I know it is not the grass I seen floating around while fishing the flats years ago, so no help here 

Okgolfer

Maybe 

Missed

whatever it is, it is better than the green slime or the green stringy stuff.

bluewater_fever

I'm not 100% sure what it is but I've been seeing it take over the last 2-3yrs. It could be paddle grass or Johnson's. I've read a few articles that claim Johnson's is doing well in our region. If you search online you likely won't find any photos that really resemble the photo below. Most Johnson's sea grass photos you find are very sparse. I took this photo last year, I think. I've ran my dip net through it and its full of crabs and shrimp. Better than barren sand.

jt904

What part of the lagoon are you finding this??

bluewater_fever

I've seen it from Titusville all the way to Sebastian.

Flec

There is a lot of it in the Palm Bay/Melbourne area. And the water is pretty clear right now. I have been noticing it for the past 2/3 years now in this area. This stuff is firmly rooted in the bottom too. It's funny that Tuesday I actually saw more fish on the IRL's east shore over sand bottom than I did along the west shore that had plenty of this grass. Maybe the fish just were easier to see over sand, but I was looking really hard for fish. Most of the gamefish I saw refused about everything I threw (arties).  Anyway,,it's nice to see some grass growing out of the bottom and not just tumbleweed,although that stuff is better than nothing. 

Flec

I think it most closely resembles the algae known as  caulerpa prolifera. It is known to be in the IRL. So not really a seagrass, but not the invasive type of algae either. If it harbors shrimp and crabs, its better than a sand bottom.. I will try for a better photo soon and repost.

bluewater_fever

I think you might be right. A little disappointing. Guess I'll have to stop calling it a grass flat and start calling it an algae flat.

bostonsox2904

Looks like you answered your own question but it is indeed caulerpa prolifera, a type of macroalgae. I used to keep this stuff in my reef tank