The biologist responsible for marine activities of the Alive foundation and co-promoter of the Sepia Project , Boris Weitzmann, has monitored the algae Asparagopsis taxiformis within the framework of the Medes Islands Partial Marine Natural Reserve (PNMMBT) after detecting ne presence in the summer of 2023. This spring, however, he warned that the species is registering a rapid growth in the seabed of the protected space.
According to the Spanish Catalog of Invasive Exotic Species, Asparagospis taxiformis (ASPTAX/EEI/AL002) is considered invasive on the coasts of Andalusia, the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands and the Region of Murcia, where it has even become the dominant species in the rocky habitat, showing the behavior of an invasive species. It has been verified that Asparagospis taxiformis can modify the habitat and can represent a serious threat to important marine communities such as oceanic Posidonia grasses or Cistoseira type fucal forests.
The presence of this algae in the Medes Islands was detected, for the first time, in the summer of 2023, during a Scientific Diving course for Citizen Science organized by FECDAS. The observation of this species was made in the southern area of the RNP of the Medes Islands known as Ferranelles. On that occasion, two feet were recorded fixed to a rocky area of algae. During the next edition of the same course, in October 2023, it was observed again. This time, they were 6 feet slightly larger than those spotted two months earlier.
It is in the spring of 2024 that Weitzmann carried out an alarming A.taxiformis record. In March the number of thallus detected had multiplied by 30 and their average length had doubled.
According to the biologist, A. taxiformis is leading a rapid colonization of the seabed of the RNP of the Medes Islands and shows all the signs of having the behavior of an invasive algae.
