(Courtesy of Shannon Donovan)
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Dead Man's Fingers, Oyster thief, Green fleece, Sputnik weed (Codium fragile tomentosoides) This branching green algae is not native to Narragansett Bay. Its appearance in New England waters happened to coincide with the launch of the world's first satellites, Sputnik I and II, by the Soviet Union in 1957 and was thus at one time called "Sputnik weed." It is native to Japan, and probably came to New England via Europe on the hulls of ships. |