Looking for new species of mosses

[timebomb]

Hi, folks,

In our last meeting, the professor said he was rather surprised that after so long, we haven't bring any of the Plagiomnium species of mosses to him. The prof is surprised for 2 reasons. First is there are many species of Plagiomnium and they can be found in countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. Such mosses can be found only in good forests though. By good, he meant places which are untouched by civilisation. You have to go pretty deep into such forests to find such mosses. If you live in Singapore, the prof said it's highly unlikely you will encounter these species here as our country is too well-developed.

Second, the Plagiomnium genus is aquatic. In other words, they should grow in our tanks. Over the last few months, the prof has seen many mosses brought to him by hobbyists and quite a few have turned out to be non-aquatic. Besides me, there's also another person on this forum who has met the prof at his lab on several occasions. I won't disclose his name but I think we shouldn't ask the professor to examine and identify every moss we find. We should only show him those we can grow in our tanks or else it would be too much to ask of the professor as there are several thousand species of mosses around.

Loh K L

[itssg]

Hi Mr.Loh,

Is Plagiomnium look like the below picture?


If yes, i found quite a number of them on the rocks which just near to the water fall. It is quite hard to seperate it out from the rock. Normally I just can't have a one whole piece in nice shape.

I had tried them in my tank emersed and submersed. I found the emersed form growing faster than submersed. (There is a layer of peat moss at the boss soaking with water all the time. On top of peat moss are the mosses.)

I just got the letter from one of the professor from FRIM(Forest Reserved Institute Malaysia). Going to have aquatic plants hunting on this coming sunday. And the letter said I am able to go anytime till end of December this year.

The only condition is I need to pass some of what I am collected to their herbarium.

Cheers,
Dom

[itssg]

Check out the pictures where i found the moss. It is not the same with other mosses I found at river side. The rock just next to the water fall. The mosses on the rock are wet all the time.

[mor b]

hi Loh, can u give me a clue where to look for new species of mosses?
we have here in israel a few forests and a lot of small rivers n creeks so i guess i could find something there.
the weather here is moist (55-75% ) and warm , specialy in the summer (now).

[timebomb]

Dominic,

That's a very lovely moss you have there. Have you tried growing it in your tanks? I don't know if it's a Plagiomnium but why don't you bring some of it to Professor Haji Mohamed to identify? I mentioned Prof Haji's name to Prof Benito and it seems like they know each other very well.

Baruch,

If you are going moss-hunting, the pictures Dominic showed us should give you a clue where to look. Look for wet areas. Look for mosses on the banks of streams and rivers or along the edges of ponds. Most mosses have tiny hair-like roots which they use to grip on to rocks. You may even find some clinging to the barks of trees. Please remember though to take as little as possible. In other words, do not plunder. It's very important that in our search for new species of mosses to grow in our tanks, we do not destroy the habitats where they are found.

Loh K L

[timebomb]

I just got the letter from one of the professor from FRIM(Forest Reserved Institute Malaysia). Going to have aquatic plants hunting on this coming sunday. And the letter said I am able to go anytime till end of December this year.

It's certainly an honour to be given such a privilege. You're a lucky fella, Dominic Keep us posted when you find something new. If Prof Haji is too busy to identify what you find, send the plants to me and I'll bring them to Prof Benito. Please remember the locations are important. Photographs where the mosses are found would be even better.

Loh K L

[itssg]

Hi Mr. Loh,

That picture was from other web site. Not mine. :P Check on the propeties and you will able to find the source. Btw, the mosses i am having are the same with the picture i am posted.

I am going to meet up with Prof. Haji next few more weeks. Definitely i will bring some for him to verify. He seem like quite close with lot of professors all over the world.

By the way, I am not lucky. I was tried very hard to ask for the permission and letter. Emails and calls for million times. Waited for 2 months.

My photograph skill not so good. Hope you won't mind.

Cheers,
Dom.

[timebomb]

That picture was from other web site. Not mine.

Dominic, posting pictures without permission from their owners is a sensitive issue. But most picture owners wouldn't mind if they are given due credit. It is not possible for us to examine every picture to determine the source so I will appreciate it very much if you let us know where the pictures were taken from the next time you put them up.

By the way, I am not lucky. I was tried very hard to ask for the permission and letter. Emails and calls for million times. Waited for 2 months.

I'm sure it must have taken a lot of hard work and perseverance on your part before permission was given, Dom. Congratulations then, your persistence has paid off. We expect to see many more pictures of aquatic plants from you. Don't let us down, okay?

Loh K L

[itssg]

Sorry Loh. I forgotten to copy down the URL after i found from google. Then lazy to trace back the URL... :P

Sure. This time going to do it properly. Dr.Saw wants me to have proper record of what i am collecting. I just hope to get some fissiden....

[hwchoy]

talking about Fissidens, timebomb, have you found out what it would take the Prof to believe that we found that moss in Singapore?

[timebomb]

Choy,

The Fissidens was mentioned during my last meeting with the professor. He is adamant the moss isn't native to Singapore. The prof is the authority on mosses so I really don't want to argue with him But seriously, I did mention that the sample I got came growing on a rock but the prof said that's nothing unusual. According to him, he collects and sends rocks all the time too. He does that when it's difficult to remove the moss growing on them.

But all is not lost. I will be bringing the professor around to several local fish shops this coming Sunday. He wants to see for himself the variety of mosses sold in our fish shops. I'll bring him to Bioplast where they have the Fissidens growing well in their tanks. That probably won't convince the prof that it is native to our country but maybe he will bring a sample back to the lab for further examination.

Loh K L

[aquaturbo]

Hi Loh,

I don't know whether are you refering to me, but I did visit Dr Tan once for him to identify some mosses. Among the mosses, 3 of them were aquatic moss belongs to taxiphyllum species, which were pretty new to the professor also. As the actual location where these mosses have been discovered were not known, the species name could not be determined for the moment. I'll be reporting on one of them in another thread.

The professor was pretty surprised that there were so many aquatic mosses nowadays, and commented that it might be a good idea to get his students to research on all the mosses available in the LFSs. If that's the case, then it definitely means good news to hobbyist like us.

There was also a fissiden species, which the professor identified to be fissiden gymnogynus. It had grown some sumbersed leaves, however, I do not have enough tanks to grow them properly for the moment. Hence, I've sent them to Dennis, who has the 'moss finger'. I believe he will be reporting on it if it proves to be semi-aquatic. Please see the following picture of the Fissiden gymnogynus.

In our last meeting, the professor said he was rather surprised that after
so long, we haven't bring any of the Plagiomnium species of mosses to him.
... but I think we shouldn't ask the professor to examine and identify
every moss we find.

I agree with you Loh, shouldn't have bothered the professor to identify all the moss we find. I did asked him if he's interested in the mosses that I have before I went to meet him. I was glad because the location which I found the Fissiden gymnogynus was a new location in Singapore and the professor has noted it down for his research.

However, there's also a problem here because to layman like us, it's very difficult to identify the different moss genus unless we show it to the professor. For example, the Plagiomnium species that the professor is interested, does the following looks like belonging to Plagiomnium?





Regards,
Tan SW
http://www.aquamoss.net

[hwchoy]

For example, the Plagiomnium species that the professor is interested, does the following looks like belonging to Plagiomnium?

Hi SW, I've seen a similar moss but always in open grassy fields and not near water. is yours growing emersed or submersed?

[timebomb]

Tan SW,

I'm glad that you're sharing what you have learnt from the professor with us. I'm happy too you agree that we should not simply bring any moss we find to the prof. Mosses that are non-aquatic are of little interest to us so we should ask him to identify only those we can grow in our tanks.

I can't tell from the picture if the moss is a species of Plagiomnium but I have to say it's a lovely moss. Melvin of Mermaid World gave the prof several species of mosses when we were at his shop last week. The prof also received mosses from Bioplast. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me then so there are no pictures to show you all what mosses the prof brought back to his lab. But in our tour of several moss fish shops, we discover another few new species offered for sale. Some are indeed quite beautiful. New species are appearing at an *alarming* rate but it's good news to us hobbyists.

Loh K L

[aquaturbo]

Hi SW, I've seen a similar moss but always in open grassy fields and not near water. is yours growing emersed or submersed?

The place that I collected it was from some muddy ground, it was partially shaded and seems like the area was always moist, as it was growing on the ground above the drain. As I was quite lazy and don't have the space to try to grow it properly, I just dumped the small piece with the mud attached into a small container. If I remember correctly, after a while the water was floating with the mud particles and BGA covered the surface. I threw it away after that without checking whether has it grown submersed or not. The content in the container was simply too gross.

[itssg]

Hi Loh,
However, there's also a problem here because to layman like us, it's very difficult to identify the different moss genus unless we show it to the professor. For example, the Plagiomnium species that the professor is interested, does the following looks like belonging to Plagiomnium?





Regards,
Tan SW
http://www.aquamoss.net

I had something similiar to this. KL, I am going to send you some of them to verify.

[joteo]

Hi SW, I've seen a similar moss but always in open grassy fields and not near water. is yours growing emersed or submersed?

The place that I collected it was from some muddy ground, it was partially shaded and seems like the area was always moist, as it was growing on the ground above the drain. As I was quite lazy and don't have the space to try to grow it properly, I just dumped the small piece with the mud attached into a small container. If I remember correctly, after a while the water was floating with the mud particles and BGA covered the surface. I threw it away after that without checking whether has it grown submersed or not. The content in the container was simply too gross.

I also picked up something that looked like what was in the picture near a drain too.

I tried to wash off the mud, but it would just break up.

After a few days in a container, it stank. I too, threw it away.

I notice that when it is moist it's nice lush and green. But when it is dry, the plant will get brown and crumbly. After rain, it'll be green and lush again.

It was nasty stuff.

[strung_0ut]

Hi Tan,

Here is an update.

Fissidens gymogynus - Its interesting that the moss is remaining green for so long. Its not really growing and is rather stringy. Sorry for the poor photo.

[greenmiddlefinger]

Loh, do you think you could ask the Prof if there are any moss of aquatic genus in Hawaii?

On thursday my family is going to Maui for a vacation, but while over there I am going to meet up with one of my uncles who is very familiar with the mountains. He's going to take me on a hike way up in the mountains through the rain forest. There will be heavy mist and hopefully we'll go by some of the rivers and waterfalls.

I'll try to collect samples of moss I see but is there any clues I could get for rough/general ID?

Actually there is a hawaii moss that I've been able to grow aquatically, but it's not very pretty. Terrestrial is grows dense in triangles, but aquatically it just shoots up and becomes stringy. I'll post pics later.

[timebomb]

Loh, do you think you could ask the Prof if there are any moss of aquatic genus in Hawaii?

Steven,

The professor is a busy man so I don't get many chances to meet him. In any case, the professor's expertise covers only Malesian Mosses. The Malesian region covers an area that stretches from Malaysia in the east to Papua New Guinea in the west. You can see the prof's database of mosses here.


Mountains are the right places to go if you're looking for mosses. At high altitudes, it's colder and more misty, conditions in which mosses thrive. Look for them in wet areas as terrestrial mosses are of little interest to us.
If you find something interesting, send some to me and I'll ask the prof to identify it.

Remember that mosses have been there for thousands, even millions of years. Most have been described and classified but many aquatic species have not been introduced to our hobby. Before us, the only ones who go around looking for mosses were people like the professor who are not interested in growing them underwater. We weren't looking hard enough then but if we start searching for them now, I'm sure we will find many more aquatic species.

It's funny but the professor is doing the reverse. He was going to remote places to look for mosses before but now, he's looking for them in the fish shops . I met him yesterday at his lab and he gave me 2 mosses which he bought from a fish shop in Japan. I'll try and post the pics later.

Loh K L