Ecklonia maxima

Ecklonia maxima
Ecklonia maxima
Scientific classification
(unranked):	SAR
Superphylum:	Heterokonta
Class:	Phaeophyceae
Order:	Laminariales
Family:	Lessoniaceae
Genus:	Ecklonia
Species:	E. maxima
Binomial name
Ecklonia maxima (Osbeck) Papenfuss
Synonyms
Fucus maximus Osbeck

Fucus maximus Osbeck

Ecklonia maxima, sea bamboo, is a species of kelp native to the southern oceans. It is most typically found along the southern Atlantic coast of Africa, from the very south of South Africa north to Namibia. In these areas the species dominates the shallow, (up to 8 m) temperate-water kelp forests offshore.

From the holdfast attached to a rock or the large holdfast of another kelp, a single long stipe rises to the surface waters, where a single large holds a tangle of blades at the surface.

The species is of economic importance: it is harvested for both an agricultural supplement and as food for abalone raised on farms.

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Wikipedia