Soft coral invading Pearl Harbor

[Nonya]

Apparently, Pearl Harbor is being invaded by a non-native soft coral. The issue arose a few years ago, but I just saw an article today. "The invasive coral species in Pearl Harbor is unomia stolonifera, aka pulsing coral or stoloniferous fire coral. It was first discovered in 2020 and is believed to have been introduced to the harbor when aquariums were dumped into the water. The coral is a soft coral, which means it's jelly-like and spreads more quickly than hard coral."

I've always referred to this as pulsing xenia. I hear there's a new genus for them--unomia

I thought Hawaii prohibited this kind of stuff in aquariums.

 

[albano]

It was first discovered in 2020 and is believed to have been introduced to the harbor when aquariums were dumped into the water.

Not an expert, but I thought that ships take in and dump ballast water!

 

[AKReefing]

I'm sure they do, but I have a feeling this is due to hobbyists, once again. Take caulerpa and lionfish infestations, for example.

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

Me flying to Pearl Harbour with my A10 loaded with kalk paste

With that being said, thsi is the kind of **** that legitimately puts our hobby at risk. Far above collection ethics, etc.

 

[HumuhumuFan]

I heard about this at work conference. Navy believes hobbyists dumped out aquariums at two different locations in the Pearl Harbor. It's Xenia and Kenya tree, they now cover 80 acres.

 

[HumuhumuFan]

Me flying to Pearl Harbour with my A10 loaded with kalk paste

With that being said, thsi is the kind of **** that legitimately puts our hobby at risk. Far above collection ethics, etc.

I love your username and avatar. One of my favorite birds!

 

[sfin52]

That stuff has been banned for yrs. Well before 2020. There's probably still some floating around in local circles.

 

[Zeeth]

It's interesting that pulsing xenia has invaded Hawaii despite the ban, where in Florida it's readily available but not yet found in our reefs.

 

[areefer01]

Me flying to Pearl Harbour with my A10 loaded with kalk paste

The airframe is a workhorse. Built around the GAU-8/A. Just as the F15 was built around the Raytheon AN/APG-63(V) radar. Purpose. Non negotiable.

With that being said, thsi is the kind of **** that legitimately puts our hobby at risk. Far above collection ethics, etc.

Which one could argue that is why the ban is in place or being enforced although they are somewhat different issues. Having said that I would ask what the population of the Pyramid Butterfly is. Likewise the Milletseed Butterfly. I have read plenty of posts with both Pyramid and Zosters eating all hobbyist Xenia which this coral appears to be similar. Maybe it tastes differently and isn't which is why the butterflyfish leave it alone.

I know both my Zosters and Pyramid cleared all visible signs of Xena in under 25 days.

BTW hope you are well Northern.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

The airframe is a workhorse. Built around the GAU-8/A. Purpose. Non negotiable.

That's all fine and dandy. But when I heard that distinct sound of the guns, I new things were about to get better. Haha

 

[Tub Life]

Thats tragic, I'm guessing these soft corals are choking out native corals?

Not gonna lie though, what a trip it would be to snorkel a Hawaiin xenia forest.

They should open up collection and export. Where I am, you can only find pom-pom locally.

 

[Tub Life]

Found the article.

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

xenia?!?!?!

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

t

Thats tragic, I'm guessing these soft corals are choking out native corals?

Not gonna lie though, what a trip it would be to snorkel a Hawaiin xenia forest.

They should open up collection and export. Where I am, you can only find pom-pom locally.

true

 

[HumuhumuFan]

Yes, they are crowding out native corals. The Navy has a big project under way to kill them with tarps.

https://www.pacom.mil/Media/News/Ne...-of-invasive-octocorals-supports-dont-let-it/