A new moss, maybe...

[whuntley]

Hi,

I was over at the local offices of the CA Fish and Game dept., trying to help a young lady save some salamanders that were not doing at all well. I know next to nothing about salamander husbandry, but did try to teach her a few things about pH, buffering, osmotic pressure, etc.

Her boss, the local fisheries biologist for F&G showed me some moss they had collected to try to absorb some of the excess ammonia the herps released. He asked if it was Java Moss, and I initially said I didn't think so.

It had a lot of longer, unbranched strands, but more different, it floated and did not sink! Overall, it looked a lot like Java moss, but not quite. He gave me a generous sample, and I took a few snapshots before plunking it into a 10G tank with a bright (2 CF at 28W ea) light over it.

Should I post the rather dull pics of it laying on a bucket, or should I try to send you some so the Professor can do a real ID on it?

It was collected, BTW, in the rather warm effluent of the Hot Creek Fish Hatchery, near Mammoth, in Mono County. I doubt if it is a native plant, but probably was introduced with a shipment of trout, somewhere along the line.

Not knowing any better, I set the thermostat on the heater to 24 C, but expect it may dip a bit below that on our cold nights. The hot springs that feed hot creek are as high as boiling, so the water there can be really warm, compared to our normal snow-runoff creeks and rivers. Wouldn't it be nice if this was a true warm-water moss?

The salamander tanks are a lot colder than that, BTW. It looked like it was suffering from saline toxicity or something in their too soft (8ppm) water. I hope the brown goes away in my more normal 80-100 ppm water.

More when I know more.

Wright

[keehoe]

Hi Wright, Can't wait for its picture and some "samples" once you are able to make a background out of that.

[timebomb]

Why not do both, Wright? Show us the pics first and send me a sample of it later. My guess is, if it came with the trout, it's probably Java Moss.

Loh K L

[ruyle]

Wright's been busy lately, taking photo classes, etc, so here's his pics:





Bill

[Green Baron]

Definitely not Willow or Java moss. Looks like a Vesicularia sp, the leaf arrangement and shape looks like Erect Moss.

[whuntley]

Erect Moss was my first rough guess, Gan, but what do I know? Besides, we don't have Erect Moss in CA, do we?

In the day+ it has been in my water, it has perked up a bit and stopped floating. I have just left it clumped on the bottom glass of its tank.

Would someone kindly PMS me an address to mail some to you? I don't know your import situation, but would plan to just bag it in a bubble-pak envelope and air mail it. Whomever gets it, will you please be sure no bits get washed down a drain or otherwise find their way into your waterways. Who knows how invasive it might be?

Bill's right. Between my new photography class at the local college, hiking for health classes, getting Ellen's pickup fixed, and walking dogs at the animal shelter, I simply didn't have any time to get the recalcitrant photo storage site working and post them. Thanks much, Bill.

BTW, I love my "new" Canon D60. It is a truly marvelous machine. [The moss pics were with my S1, tho.]

Wright

[timebomb]

The moss does not look like anything we've seen before, Wright. I'll appreciate it very much if you send me a sample. I'll bring it to the professor as soon as I can. Here's my address:

Loh Kwek Leong
Block 104 Towner Road
#08-324
Singapore 322104

As far as I know, the customs here isn't fussy about what's coming in. Singapore, after all, is a meeting place for all sorts of flora and fauna. But please seal the moss in an air-tight plastic bag and use a padded envelope, if possible. I didn't see any sporophytes in the pictures but if there are any, please include some when you send the moss. Thank you.

Loh K L

[whuntley]

OK KL, it will be on the way as soon as I can get to town and find a padded envelope. I have to go in to mail it, anyway, as it needs the green card to go with it with the customs declaration.

I didn't see anything that looked like a sporophyte, but will look some more with a magnifier. I think it has been highly stressed by being in pretty cold water with almost no electrolytes other than too much sodium. The Hot Creek water is much better balanced in minerals for plants than the downtown Bishop water. [The latter is so pure that people routinely use it in their batteries and for electric irons!]

Maybe I'll look closer at it again today, and see how it is doing. If not looking stong enough for shipping, I may wait a few days for it to recover a bit more.

The F&G biologist, Steve Parminter, and I will both be pleased if we can get a positive ID on this moss. Thanks for helping.

Wright

[whuntley]

KL (and all)

It is in the envelope and ready to run to the post office. Let me know if it arrives alive. OK? If not, we can try again.

Wright

[whuntley]

Well, the sample went out on Fri. (my time) but I have a bit of bad news.

This moss may do OK in warm water, but it was taken from waters that measured between 14 and 16 C! No one wants that kind of chiller!

Wright

[timebomb]

Thanks, Wright. I'll let you know as soon as the moss arrives. Don't worry. I think the moss will survive in our tanks although it was taken from waters with very low temperatures. The Willow Moss (Fontinalis antipyretica) grows in streams where the water sometimes freezes over but many hobbyists here have succeeded in growing them in their tanks.

Where should I say the moss was taken from when I give it to the professor?
The name of the state would be good enough.

Loh K L

[whuntley]

California is a huge state in SG terms. It is somewhere over 1200 miles long, for example, North West to South East.

The moss came from the Hot Creek State Fish Hatchery, in Mono County California, about 40 miles NE of Bishop. On a map, it is about 160 miles south and a bit east of Reno Nevada (the closest city). It is about 10 miles downstream and thousands of feet lower than the famous Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort. Elevation about 2000 meters.

I'll let you decide whether "CA" is enough description for the professor. CA is strange. There is a permanent glacier about 12 miles south of my house, and date palms producing in Death Valley, about 50 miles SE from there.. The state has the highest (Mt. Whitney) and lowest (Badwater in Death Valley) points in the contiguous 48 states, almost in sight of each other. They can both be seen easily from atop Telescope Peak. Climates vary from sub-tropical San Diego to Alpine (near arctic) in the high Sierras. Snow as deep as 40 feet is not uncommon near Bear Valley Ski Area.

Just after our New Years, I was wading in snow to my knees (about 18"). We still have lots on the ground in places shaded from the sun.

Ciao,

Wright

[timebomb]

Wright, I hope you don't get buried under all that snow

Hey, your moss arrived this afternoon. It's looking good. Here's a picture:



Up close, the leaves look like those of the Casuarina tree. When I was young, I used to pluck their fruits which look like mini-durians. We used them as bullets for our catapults. These days, if they catch you with a catapult, they lock you up.

I'll let you know when the professor has examined it. It may take a while though because the prof is always busy.

Loh K L

[timebomb]

Wright,

The professor has examined your moss and this is what he says:

The moss specimen from California is a species of Brachythecium in the Family Brachytheciaceae.. If the specimen is truly from California (and not from somewhere else), and in the absence of fruiting specimen for a definite species identification, I will venture to guess that the name is Brachythecium cf. rutabulum, which is a terrestrial forest moss common in humid forest in North America. The plant has leaves with a single midrib and decurrent leaf base.

It is always a surprise for me to see a terrestrial moss species being forced into living in fully immersed condition inside an aquarium tank. From your specimen, it seems that this Brachythecium species is doing well growing in the water producing many long branches.

Actually there are a few species in this genus in North America and temperate Asia that are semi-aquatic, but they are not this species which you brought to my attention this week.

So it seems there are still quite a few species of semi-aquatic mosses that haven't been introduced to our hobby. Keep looking, guys.

Loh K L

[whuntley]

Thanks much KL.

I have forwarded your response to Steve Parmenter, the fisheries biologist for the local Fish and Game office. Maybe he can find out if it is locally widespread or just an introduced exotic at the hatchery.

Mine seems to be growing pretty well, so maybe one day we can get some fruiting samples for a better ID.

I was working at a clay mine, just downstream from that hatchery, when the hatchery was quite new, and recall seeing lush growths of submerged mosses in Hot Creek in the mid 1950s. IDK if it was the same species, as I wasn't that curious about it, at that time. It was far too thick and widespread to be a recent introduction from the hatchery, though. We were diamond drilling on the hills above, and the moss was a minor nuisance as it clogged the screened intake when we tried to fill our tank truck with water for the drilling rig.

I can go back to the same general area and see if it looks the same in that creek as it was 50+ years ago. Things can change a lot in that kind of time.

Wright

[timebomb]

If I were you, Wright, I'll go back to the hatchery and collect some of the moss there. Who knows? There could be some diamond bits stuck to the fronds

I hope you highlighted to Steve Parmenter that the id of the moss is still tentative. Without sporophytes, the professor can't be certain.

Loh K L

[whuntley]

The prof. was very clear on those points, and I forwarded to Steve exactly what you and he said, verbatim. Steve has a good scientific mind, and will not jump to any conclusions without better proof.

He is actually a limnologist, by training, so we are dealing with exactly what he has expertise in. I'll ask if I can go with him on a trip to the hatchery, and will look for spores as the days get longer and the sun starts to warm things up.

Can you give me specific things a layman should be looking for on the moss? I have seen the pics in this forum, but don't know if they will be the same for this genus.

Wright

[timebomb]

Wright,

The sporophytes I've seen are all shaped like commas. But I know they aren't always so. The Peacock Moss (Hypopterygium tenellum) is known to have a sporophyte that looks like the head of a bird. I've never seen one though but that's what the professor said. I've also seen in the professor's laptop, sporophytes that look like a venus fly-trap. An insect lands on such a sporophyte and the spores get attached to its body.

I'm sure your friend, Peter would be able to tell a sporophyte when he sees one. Good luck.

Here's a picture of that Peacock Moss. The pic does not show any sporophytes though.


By the way, just in case I'm going to be swamped with requests again, I do not have any Peacock Moss. As far as I know, it's terrestrial and can be found in the forests of South East Asia. All I have is the picture which was sent to me from the professor's library.

Loh K L

[RRG]

We were diamond drilling on the hills above [...]

Wright

I digress; I finally see the connection between Wright and his gnome avatar.

Good luck, Wright, hopefully you discover a new moss for aquariums.