I saw small amounts of this odd looking seaweed at St Mary's Lighthouse, Tyne and Wear this morning (09.06). I can't see anything like it my books, anyone got any ideas? Cheers. Graeme.
Mon, 09/06/2014 - 21:06
#1
Unknown seaweed from up north
Hard to tell from the photo but my Student's Guide to the Seashore (Fish & Fish - an essential psl resource!) suggests possibly a species of Fucus - maybe spiralis. Although Mastocarpus stellatus may be a candidate.
I've checked the pics and it doesn't appear to be in here, but nonetheless this is a lovely pdf worth checking through http://www.nmbaqcs.org/downloads/macroalgae/EA%20Seaweed%20reference%20m...
Then there's this site which has pics of around 200 NW Atlantic species - although no thumbnails annoyingly http://www.seaweed.ie/descriptions/
Just stumbled across this huge 225 page pdf - A Check-list and Atlas of the Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland (2003) !!!! Enjoy :) http://www.brphycsoc.org/documents/ChkList%26%20Atlas.pdf
I wonder whether it was in an exposed position? Seems very 'short' for a seaweed, F. spiralis has a form nana that is found in exposed positions hence my suggestion above... Knowing how high up the shoreline it was may also help as there are distinct zones that could narrow the field down a little.