Seaweed ID please.

[Willb]

Taken in August on the North coast of Scotland near Thurso. Having some difficulty identifying this species. Any suggestions welcome. Thanks ahead of time.

[juliejam]

Sorry I cant help you with this one..Lovely shot though quite artistic..Well done.




Julie

[thunder]

I think we'd need to see a shot of the whole frond for an ID - but it's a lovely picture, as Julie has said.

henrya

[naturelover]

welcome willb,enjoy your stay.

[Marineboy]

Not an obvious identification as we have only close-up detail to go on. How big and what shape was the whole weed?
If I was to suggest a species it would be Laminaria saccharina - a long wavy kelp type weed that grows below low water mark. If memory serves me right, the saccharina part of the name has something to do with the high sugar content of the plant.
So was the whole weed long and wavy with a good holdfast on the base?
Nice close-up of surface detail.

[Willb]

Hi Marineboy/naturelover/henrya/Julie

Thanks for comments.

I took this a few years ago, so I am a little hazy about the size and shape, but with your suggestion of Laminaria saccharina, I have done a quick scout online looking at different Algae-related sites, and looking at those images of the whole seaweed reminded me that it did look quite a lot like that. It was long like Laminaria saccharina.

The seaweeds were lying on rocks on the high-water mark. This portion of the seaweed, life-size was about six inches across.