Marimo
| Marimo | |
|---|---|
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| Three common growth forms of Aegagropila linnaei, the lake ball proper, "free-floating filaments" and epilithic | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Chlorophyta |
| Class: | Ulvophyceae |
| Order: | Cladophorales |
| Family: | Cladophoraceae |
| Genus: | Aegagropila |
| Species: | A. linnaei |
| Binomial name | |
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Aegagropila linnaei Kützing |
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Aegagropila linnaei, known as Marimo (毬藻?, literally "ball seaweed") in Japanese and as Cladophora ball, Lake ball, Mossimo or Moss Balls in English, is a species of filamentous green algae (Chlorophyta) found mostly in a number of lakes in the northern hemisphere. A marimo is a rare growth form of the species where the algae grow into large green balls with a velvety appearance. Colonies of such balls are known to form in Iceland, Scotland, Japan, Estonia and, in 2014, Australia.
They were first discovered in the 1820s by Anton E. Sauter in Lake Zell, Austria. The genus Aegagropila was established by Friedrich T. Kützing (1843) with A. linnaei as the type species based on its formation of spherical aggregations, but all the Aegagropila species were transferred to subgenus Aegagropila of genus Cladophora later by the same author (Kützing 1849). Subsequently, A. linnaei has been accommodated in the genus Cladophora in the Cladophorales and has been renamed Cladophora aegagropila (L.) Rabenhorst and Cl. sauteri (Nees ex Kütz.) Kütz. Extensive DNA research in 2002 returned the name to Aegagropila linnaei. The presence of chitin in the cell walls makes it distinct from the genus Cladophora.
The plant was named "marimo" by a Japanese botanist Tatsuhiko Kawakami (川上龍彦 Kawakami Tatsuhiko?) in 1898 (Meiji 31). Mari is a bouncy play ball. Mo is a generic term for plants that grow in water. The native names in Ainu are torasampe (lake goblin) and tokarip (lake roller). They are sometimes sold in aquaria under the name "Japanese moss balls" although they are unrelated to moss. In Iceland the lake balls are called kúluskítur by the local fishermen at Mývatn (kúla = ball. skítur = muck) where the "muck" is any weeds that get entangled in their fishing nets. The generic name "Aegagropila" (Αεγαγρόπιλα) is Greek for "goat hair".
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Wikipedia