A small green seaweed. It has dark round, forked fronds (branches) with a fuzzy appearance and a velvety or sponged texture.
Size
Up to 30 cm long.
Field Guide
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Velvet Weed
- Species Category: Marine
- Species origin: Other
- Conservation status: Common
What to Observe
Search area for 30 minutes and record the following:
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Abundant: found easily with little searching
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Frequent: found with minimal searching
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Rare: only 1 or 2 individuals found with intensive searching
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Not found: not present during search
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When and Where
When To Look
- Throughout the year
- Fronds hang down from rocks during low tide
Where To Look
- South-eastern Australia
- In the low intertidal zone, and subtidal on high-energy beaches
What Else?
Similar Species
There are several other similar Codium species but Codium fragile can usually be distinguished from these by having a dark green rather than light green appearance, and a tubular rather than flat cross section and furry appearance.
A subspecies (Codium fragile tomentosoides) is highly invasive.
- Trails: Bellarine Peninsula - Barwon Coast & Ocean Grove Nature Reserve VIC, Cape Conran VIC, Killalea State Park NSW, Ricketts Point VIC
- Species Region: Australia