In recent years, scientists from the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences have observed an increasing number of underwater aggregations of unanchored bladderwracks. These mats float in the sea and are not attached to the substrate. They provide habitat for species such as:
clawed fork weed – Furcellaria lumbricalis
Zostera Marina
Lagoon cockle – Cerastoderma glaucum
Blue Mussel
European acorn barnacle
Bryozoa
common jellyfish – Aurelia aurita
variegated nereid
gammarus
American crab
devil’s hen
round goby
European flounder
Straightnose pipefish
Broadnosed pipefish
In such habitats, fucus occurs in a drifting form—not attached to the substrate. In this form, fucus reproduces asexually—it is a clone of itself and reproduces by fission of its thallus. Genetic studies are underway to confirm the origin of these individuals, but they most likely did not arrive from other parts of the sea; they are simply increasing their populations locally. It can be observed that the fucus occurring in these habitats is preparing to begin sexual reproduction.
