This article is a part of our second newsletter titled, The Persaud Catalogue Scientific Journal of Marine Biology. In this journal, we will publish information concerning the various marine flora & fauna of certain places. This newsletter, will publish sporadically, & not on a timed basis like The Persaud Catalog. This journal is in affiliation with The Persaud Catalog, however it is a separate entity. We sent 2 agents out to a small beach in Ventura County California, called Mondo’s Beach. They came back with 8 different specimens of Seagrass that were found on this beach, the results of which will be published here. Unlike the Malibu Lagoon survey, this one will not be conducted annually, & is a singular survey.
The Official Seagrass Survey Of Mondo’s Beach
All samples were taken on the 26th of June at between 5:39 PM & 6:31 PM. This was closest to low tide on that specific day, so the results may differ from if we took our specimens at high tide. In order of most found species to least found species the list is as follows: No. 1. Zostera Marina, No. 2. Bull Kelp, No. 3. Spongey Purple Seagrass, No. 4. Orange Pseudo Kelp, No. 5. Purple Leathery Seagrass, No. 6. Feathery Brown Seagrass, No. 7. Octopus Grass, & Finally No. 8. Ulva Lactuca (Sea Lettuce).
Species No. 1: Zostera Marina (Seawrack / Common Eelgrass)
Without a doubt, Zostera Marina was the most commonly found species on this beach. Additionally, it was in an incredibly high density on the beach, with mats of seagrass weighing 4 pounds or more. It was found in the highest density towards the northern side of the beach, but it was still plentiful throughout the entirety of the beach. It seems that, there were more mats of seagrass on the northern side, & more smaller specimens on the southern side of the beach. The coordinates of our specimen in particular are 34°19’15” North, & 119°22’27” West, 103° East. In the casing that we placed it in, the specimen unfortunately broke into 2 main stems. The first one measured 120 centimeters (47.2441 inches), & the other one measured at 84.5 centimeters (33.26772 inches).
Species No. 2: Possibly Corallina Officinalis (Common Coraline)
This species was most likely one of the third least common on Mondo’s Beach. Its density was highest towards the northern side of the beach it seems, & was very sparsely if at all found on the southern side of the beach. Our specimen of this species measured approximately at 24 centimeters (9.44882 inches) long, though it broke in transport so it is quite hard to precisely say. The exact coordinates at which our specimen was found are as follows; 34°19’15 North, 119°22’26” West, 212° South West. We could not exactly tell what kind of seagrass this was, & was could not say for certain that it is Corallina officinalis.
Species No. 3: Nereocystis Luetkaena (Bull Kelp / Bullwhip Kelp / Ribbon Kelp / Bladder Wrack)
This species was the second most plentiful throughout the entire beach. Some specimens were too large to fit into our vials, so we could only get the smaller specimens. This species was undoubtedly the largest species in length on the beach, & some specimens of this species measured over 6 feet long. This species still is not as common as Zostera Marina by a large margin, but it is far more plentiful than all other species on this list. It is found most densely towards the central areas of the beach, & the far north areas of the beach, & tends to be found sparsely if at all on the far south side of the beach. The coordinates for our specimen were 34°19’16” North 119°22’31” West, or 223° South West. Our specimen for this species measured approximately 57 centimeters (22.4409 inches) long. It had long flat, ridged
leaves, with stems connecting them to one another. These stems occasionally have small fruit on them.
Species No. 4: Unidentified White Leathery Species Of Seagrass
This species was the second least common found on the beach. It was only found in mats of mainly Zostera Marina, & was not found very often. It is in the highest density on the south side of the beach, & is sparsely found if at all on the north & central side of the beach. The coordinates at which our specimen was found are 34°19’16” North 119°22°29” West, 203 South West. Our specimen for this species measured at approximately 34.5 centimeters (13.58268 inches) long. We could not pinpoint what species this was, so we are labeling it as unidentified. It had tough white leaves, with red stems connecting them all. It looked vaguely like the skin of an octopus.
Species No. 5: Ulva Lactuca (Sea Lettuce)
This species was the least common on the beach by a long shot. We could not find full scale leaves of it, just torn off parts of various different leaves that were caught in a clump of Zostera Marina. The coordinates at which our specimen was found are 34°19’16” North 119°22°29” West, 203 South West. Our specimen was found in the exact same mat as the (octopus grass). We could only find 2 very small traces of this species the first of which measured at 11 centimeters (4.33071 inches) long, 8 centimeters (3.14961 inches) long.
Species No. 6: Macrocystis Pyrifera (Giant Kelp / Bladder Kelp)
This species was the fourth most common species found on the beach. It looked very similar to bull kelp upon first glance, however it was orange. The exact coordinates at which our specimen of this species was found are 34°19'16” North 119°22’24” West, 147° South East. Our specimen of this species was measured at 55 centimeters (21.6535 inches) long.
Species No. 7: Unidentified Brown Feathery Seagrass
This species was the third most uncommon species found on the beach. This species is found most commonly on the south side of the beach, & is found sparsely if at all on the north side. The coordinates for our specimen of this species are 34°19’16” North & 119°22” 34 West. Our specimen of this species measured at approximately 6.5 inches (16.51 centimeters) in length. This specimen had long feathery brown leaves that grew from one central area, measuring at 4 to 6 inches (10.16 to 15.24 centimeters) long, each.
Species No. 8: Chondracanthus Exasperatus (Turkish Towel)
This species is the second most uncommonly found species found on Mondo’s Beach. It is found densely on the far south side & is sparsely found across the more central southern areas of the beach. The exact coordinates for our specimen of this species are 34°19’16” North, 119°22’33” West, 66° North East. This specimen of this species measured at approximately 10.16 centimeters (4 inches) long.
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