54 MARINE PRODUCTS OF COMMERCE 



In 1948 a survey of the eastern portion of Newfoundland was made by the 

 Industrial Development Board, and moss was found to occur in good quantity 

 in St. Mary's Bay, Trepassey Bay, along the Burin Peninsula near Marystown, in 

 Placentia Bay at Ship Harbour and Placentia Sound, in Gander Bay on the north 

 coast, and in several other localities. Moss was collected in Newfoundland from 

 1941 through 1943, and the quantities obtained are shown in Table 12. 



Table 12. Irish Moss Gathered, Dry Weight, in 

 Newfoundland, 1941-43. 



Year Pounds 



Prior to World War II large quantities of Irish moss were imported from Ire- 

 land, Scotland, and France. Although European moss has been regarded as 

 superior, American users learned during the war, when they were obliged to 

 obtain supplies from New England and Canada, that a moss of at least equal 

 quality was available from the Atlantic Coast of North America. Apparently 

 Irish moss from the more northern parts of its range produces an extractive of 

 somewhat higher gel strength than that from the southern portion. Variation in 

 the properties of North American Irish moss resulted in a lack of uniformity of the 

 finished product. This constituted the principal problem during the change-over 

 period of the early war years, but it was solved by research and laboratory control. 



The Plant, Chondnis crispus is a low, bushy, rather rigid seaweed, composed 

 of flattened, forked branches that vary considerably in width, usually from one- 

 quarter to one-half inch. The height of the plant ranges from two to ten 

 inches, depending largely upon its habitat. Plants exposed to wave action in the 

 intertidal zone tend to be shorter and more densely branched. The color ranges 

 from greenish in shallow, clear water to a blackish purple in deep or turbid water. 

 The plants grow on rocks in tidal pools and from the lowest part of the intertidal 

 zone to a depth of 50 feet or more, depending upon the clarity of the water. Its 

 range along the Atlantic Coast of North America extends from New Jersey to 

 Newfoundland and probably into Labrador. Although plants have been taken in 

 trawls off Cape Hatteras, N. C, it is doubtful that they could grow so far south. 

 Massachusetts represents the approximate southern limit of its economic abun- 

 dance, and Newfoundland the northern limit of collectable quantities. 



Life History. When Irish moss is torn loose from the rocks, usually the hold- 

 fast and some of the lower parts of the plant remain attached. These portions give 

 rise to new branches and within a few weeks or months full-sized plants are 

 formed. In the southern part of its range growth may be sufficiently rapid to 

 permit two collections from the same area within one collecting season. 



In addition to vegetative regeneration reproduction also occurs by means of 

 one-celled, microscopic spores. Chondrus plants are of three different types from 

 the standpoint of spores produced: male, female, and tetrasporic. Male and female 

 plants produce their respective sex cells. A fertilized egg cell on a female plant 

 produces in turn a mass of carpospores, which, when mature, are shed in the 



