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The related term Aufwuchs (German "surface growth" or "overgrowth", pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌvuːks] ⓘ) refers to the collection of small animals and plants that adhere to open surfaces in aquatic environments, such as parts of rooted plants. Periphyton serves as an important food source for invertebrates, tadpoles, and some fish.
Various examples of aquatic hitchhiking algae that may be found in freshwater aquaria. There are many types of algae that are commonly found in a freshwater aquarium setting. Species may be unintentionally disseminated through spores and fragments that hitchhike on ornamental fish and plants purchased from aquarium suppliers. [1]
Today, algae are used by humans in many ways; for example, as fertilizers, soil conditioners, and livestock feed. [124] Aquatic and microscopic species are cultured in clear tanks or ponds and are either harvested or used to treat effluents pumped through the ponds. Algaculture on a large scale is an important type of aquaculture in some places.
Algae lack the various structures that characterize plants (which evolved from freshwater green algae), such as the phyllids (leaf-like structures) and rhizoids of bryophytes (non-vascular plants), and the roots, leaves and other xylemic/phloemic organs found in tracheophytes (vascular plants). Most algae are autotrophic, although some are ...
Some aquarium fish and invertebrates also eat live plants. Hobby aquarists use aquatic plants for aquascaping. Marine algae are also included in this list for convenience, despite the fact that many species are technically classified as protists, not plants.
"Seaweed" lacks a formal definition, but seaweed generally lives in the ocean and is visible to the naked eye. The term refers to both flowering plants submerged in the ocean, like eelgrass, as well as larger marine algae. Generally, it is one of several groups of multicellular algae; red, green and brown. [7]
Familiar examples of aquatic plants include waterlily, lotus, duckweeds, mosquito fern, floating heart, water milfoils, mare's tail, water lettuce, water hyacinth, and algae. [4] Aquatic plants require special adaptations for prolonged inundation in water, and for floating at the water surface.
The Chrysophyceae, usually called chrysophytes, chrysomonads, golden-brown algae or golden algae, are a large group of algae, found mostly in freshwater. [3] Golden algae is also commonly used to refer to a single species, Prymnesium parvum , which causes fish kills .