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It is a red algae that makes the Mediterranean tremble. It comes from the Indian Ocean and was located for the first time in the archipelago of the Golden Islands, around Port-Cros, off Lavandou. Very invasive, it scares away fish, and that worries.
Preserved islands, where nature bears witness to the exceptional biodiversity in the Mediterranean. Where the pirates came to take shelter, it is today divers who explore the depths of the park of Port-Cros (Var). Here, the Grouper is king, but for the past few days, it has come across a new species: a red algae, discovered by a scientist, who brought it to a specialist.
This Lophocladia is an invasive species. It arrives from the Red Sea, through the Suez Canal. It was observed mainly on the southern coasts, which are warmer, but for twenty years, it has settled in the Balearic Islands, before appearing in Port-Cros. Its displacement goes hand in hand with the warming of the Mediterranean. “This is really concrete proof of global warming,” declares Charles-François Boudouresque, algologist, researcher at the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanology. This algae, toxic to fish, could replace the Posidonia seagrass beds, which regulate underwater life in the Mediterranean.