Laminaria hyperborea
| Laminaria hyperborea | |
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| Laminaria hyperborea | |
| Scientific classification | |
| (unranked): | SAR |
| Superphylum: | Heterokonta |
| Class: | Phaeophyceae |
| Order: | Laminariales |
| Family: | Laminariaceae |
| Genus: | Laminaria |
| Species: | L. hyperborea |
| Binomial name | |
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Laminaria hyperborea (Gunnerus) Foslie, 1884 |
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| Synonyms | |
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Laminaria hyperborea is a species of large brown alga, a kelp in the family Laminariaceae, also known by the common names of tangle and cuvie. It is found in the sublittoral zone of the northern Atlantic Ocean. A variety, Laminaria hyperborea f. cucullata (P.Svensden & J.M.Kain, 1971) is known from more wave sheltered areas in Scandinavia.
Laminaria hyperborea is a massive, leathery seaweed, up to 360 cm long. The holdfast is large and cone-shaped, with branched rhizoids, looking rather like a bird's foot. The stipe is circular in cross section, rough, thick at the base and tapering upwards. Older stipes are often covered with epiphytic red algae. The laminate blade is deeply divided into linear segments and is yellowish brown with large digitate segments. It is a long-lived species and has been recorded as surviving for 15 years.
Laminaria hyperborea can be distinguished from the rather similar L. digitata by being paler in colour and having a longer stipe which snaps when it is bent sharply.
The range is the northeast Atlantic Ocean, from Scandinavia south to Spain and the Canary Islands, the Baltic Sea and the North Sea.
Laminaria hyperborea grows on rocks in the sublittoral zone at depths down to about 10 m (35 ft) in turbid waters and down to 30 m (100 ft) where the water is clear. It tends to be the dominant species in a narrow zone near low-water at spring tides. It also predominates in deeper waters on stable substrates in eave exposed areas while Saccharina latissima tends to be dominant in sheltered areas or those with less stable substrates. Down to about 15 m (50 ft) the growth may be very dense and may be referred to as a "kelp forest" but at greater depths there is a more open community and these areas have been referred to as "parks".
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Wikipedia