Out here today, were lines upon lines of seaweed, composed of different sorts of weed, sometimes only a centimetre thick but looked 100s of metres long, lines were spaced about 20m apart. I've seen this effect before, but today was very noticeable.
Any body know what causes weed to arrange itself like this???
Wind? waves? current/tide? And how?

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Originally posted by decrepit

Out here today, were lines upon lines of seaweed, composed of different sorts of weed, sometimes only a centimetre thick but looked 100s of metres long, lines were spaced about 20m apart. I've seen this effect before, but today was very noticeable.
Any body know what causes weed to arrange itself like this???
Wind? waves? current/tide? And how?

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No idea. Noticed this at one of Perth's northern beaches yesterday. Fluffy weed, ropey weed, ribbony weed, poopy weed all in a long thin lines. Put a weed fin on as it was givin' me the *%&$s. Maybe it is some kind of dead weed herding behaviour

Weed wasn't worrying me, my fins have much more slope at the base than the average wave fin, just for this sort of situation.
Was just curious about what caused it to form up like that.

But there was one super long cray pot rope, just in front of the impact zone that slowed me down a few times.

quote:

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Originally posted by decrepit

Any body know what causes weed to arrange itself like this???
Wind? waves? current/tide? And how?

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In fishing they are called "Wind lanes", and if you're after trout you cast your lure right into the middle of the lane, cos that's where all the food and therefore trout is. I'm not sure how well that applies to open water, I've only ever seen them in enclosed waters.

As to how they form, my best guess (in lakes at least) would be wind making the water roll around in a couple of rolls, and where they meet the weed collects. In lakes at least, it's very wind dependent, hence the name, although in open water it might be more to do with current than wind.