Sargassum muticum - Japanese wire weed is a fast growing seaweed preferring sheltered rocky areas. It attaches itself through a holdfast, a root-like structure allowing aquatic sessile organisms to anchor themselves into mud, sand or rocks. The seaweed has been distributed far beyond the shores of Japan, usually by accident. When Japanese oysters were imported into the Western Pacific coastal areas during the early 1940’s for the purpose of farming, the wire weed came along.
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Japan is located along the Pacific Rim of Fire, an area of extreme seismic and volcanic activity. There are more than 1,500 tremors recorded in Japan annually. Most are mild and cause no damage, but Japan has suffered a high proportion of devastating earthquakes. In 1923, the Kantō plain was struck by a massive earthquake causing the death of over 150,000 people. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake measured a devastating 9.0 on the Richter scale; it caused extensive damage and killed 15,000 people.
