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Transcript NARRATOR: Divers exploring the southern U.S. coastlines this spring should keep their eyes peeled for an invasive alien that swamps all marine life in its path. As this time-lapse illustrates, this super-alga can grow up to an inch a day and reach lengths of almost ten feet. There is virtually no stopping it. Trying to rip it out will only help it spread because it can regenerate itself from even a tiny fragment. RACHEL WOODFIELD (marine biologist): "It has a real insidious sort of creepy nature, as if it's some sort of blob that's taking over the bottom." NARRATOR: As shown on PBS's NOVA, this "killer alga" has already infested the Mediterranean, and it could become a serious threat to the U.S.'s warmest coastlines. Scientists who spotted it off the coast of California believe the seaweed probably escaped from someone's aquarium. ROBERT HOFFMAN (National Marine Fishery Service): "It could have been simply a case of where the individual was cleaning his aquarium in his front yard, in the street, and he had the alga in the aquarium and pieces of it floated down the gutter, got into the storm drain, and then were just discharged into the lagoon." NARRATOR: Because this seaweed can take over entire ecosystems, divers had to act fast. They used chlorine as strong as household bleach to kill the plant. That approach seems to have kept the plant at bay in Southern California. But a relative of the algae has been sighted off the coast of Florida. Scientists are studying it to determine just how dangerous this type is.
But unless officials devise a plan of action, America's favorite
beaches could one-day fall prey to the green menace. I'm Brad Kloza.
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