I came over here from tropical coastal waters around the world, including northern Australia, the Indian Ocean, the east African coast, the western Pacific, Indonesia and the southwest Pacific, Hawaii, and the Caribbean.

I am a very popular saltwater aquarium plant thanks to my hardiness and my attractive green fronds. My ticket to invade a new environment is when an aquarium owner decides to "give up the tank" so to speak and dumps me (along with the rest of the aquarium) into the ocean. I can also be spread long distances by boat anchors. Once I get into the ocean, I spread really fast! I can grow as much as 3 inches a day, and start a new invasion from just one tiny fragment. For example, I was introduced to the Mediterranean Sea in 1984, and as of 2001, I covered 12,000 hectares. That's the same as 39 thousand football fields!

I used to be a mild-mannered tropical seaweed, but now they call me "killer algae." Why? Well, the trouble started when people raised me to grow fast and tolerate cold water so I would be a good aquarium plant. Now, instead of only growing in small patches and staying in warm water, I can grow in cool temperatures, grow pretty much anywhere (rock, sand, gravel, mud, you name it!), and even survive for a time out of water! Now, I form huge, dense, colonies that cannot be used by native fish and invertebrates. That means, in my patches there is no place for fish to hide, eat, or breed. Not only that, but I also produce toxins that are poisonous to fish and kill other plants! If I establish myself in West coast waters, I could devastate their ocean ecosystems by smothering the California eel grass. Native fish, invertebrates and sea birds that depend on the eel grass for habitat and as a food source would have trouble surviving. It is no wonder they call me a "killer"!

Let aquarium owners know about my potential impacts and encourage people to dispose of me properly. The best way to get rid of me is freezing for 24 hours, and then tossing me in the trash. Don't even think about dumping your aquarium in the gutter, storm drain, creek, lagoon, bay, harbor, or ocean! Once I escape, the only chance you have to control me is by covering with a tarp and them poisoning me with chorline. After that, you have to keep coming back to look for new infestations. Controlling me is not cheap either. It has cost 4.5 million to control my invasions into Agua Hedionda and Huntington Harbor, California. Just imagine if they find more of me. Yikes! Hurry, tell a friend before I am released again on a killing rampage!