Velvet Weed Trinh-Doan

Velvet Weed

A small green seaweed. It has dark round, forked fronds (branches) with a fuzzy appearance and a velvety or sponged texture.

Size

Up to 30 cm long.

Field Guide

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Species: WhatToObserve Image

What to Observe

Search area for 30 minutes and record the following:

  • Abundant: found easily with little searching

  • Frequent: found with minimal searching

  • Rare: only 1 or 2 individuals found with intensive searching

  • Not found: not present during search

Species: WhenAndWhere Image

When and Where

When To Look

  • Throughout the year
  • Fronds hang down from rocks during low tide

Where To Look

  • South-eastern Australia
  • In the low intertidal zone, and subtidal on high-energy beaches
Species: WhatElse Image

What Else?

Similar Species

There are several other similar Codium species but Codium fragile can usually be distinguished from these by having a dark green rather than light green appearance, and a tubular rather than flat cross section and furry appearance.

A subspecies (Codium fragile tomentosoides) is highly invasive.