I see no weeds in the sea, only intricate, colourful, crucial… well…um.. Seaweeds
not plants. algae.
Seaweeds can get confusing to ID, but come in three main groups – green, red and brown. So I have split them up into those three main groups for you to explore.
Scroll through the species I have found and photographed rockpooling so far, or search in the bar below.
If I haven’t documented the species you are looking for be sure to check back soon as I update the site reguarily with my new finds!
Red Seaweed
Pepper Dulse – Osmundea pinnatifid
Pepper Dulse - Osmundea pinnatifida A small, sticky up seaweed which is edible! Though even if it is edible...its defiantly a taste experience. As you can tell because of the name it is peppery, and also very irony... a distinctive taste. GALLERYHAVE A QUESTION...
Polysiphonia lanosa
Polysiphonia lanosa This seaweed is as clingy as seaweed gets! It never wants to be apart from its friend egg wrack! In fact it always grows on it and you rarely if ever find one without the other. This bushy, red seaweed grows on the fronds of egg wracks,...
Coral Weed – Corrilina officinalis
Coral Weed - Corallina officinalis This seawwed is a great one to use as a way to capture the attentioon of anyone who thinks seaweeds are boring.. which is of course not true! Named coral weed, because like the oceans famous favourites corals, this species...
Bunny Ears – Lomentaria articulata
Bunny Ears - Lomentaria articulata This is one of the lesser known red seaweeds - which is a surprise because it has such a cute name. And no wonder it has this name, because these little seaweed looks just like little bunny ears. GALLERYHAVE A QUESTION...
Irish Moss – Chrondrus crispus
Irish Moss - Chrondrus crispus This is my favourite seaweed! This gorgeous red seaweed has a few tricks up its sleeve and one amazing haircut. Irish moss, will irridesce underwater a beautiful blue/green! Its gorgeous, like little galaxies at the end of the...
Red Rags – Dilsen carnosa
Red Rags - Dilsea carnosa This bright red seaweed adds such a pop of colour to UK rockshore its a fantastic find! The thick fronds of this seaweed, means the red colour can be bright without any transparency you normally get from this almost seethrough red...
Green Seaweed
Gutweed – Ulva intestinalis
Tub Gurnard - Chelidonicthys lucera Called Gutweed, because this bringt green seaweed has the shape a bit like intestines... the bright green colour doesnt really make that too gross for us but I feel bad for green seamonsters. This is a common find on rockyshores...
Green Seaweed
Kelp – Laminaria digitata
Plaice - Pleuronectes platessa Where is your plaice in the world? On the rockyshore! Thats because rockyshore are great nursery grounds for baby flatfish - so if you head down to the shore late spring to summer, and just watch the sand in the bottom of rockpools you...
Serrated Wrack – Fucus serratus
Serrated Wrack - Fucus serratus Fucuses are brown seaweed which cover alot of the middle of rockyshores in the UK. Serrated wrack can be told apart, quite easily from the other Fucus species once you know what to look for. Its a very flat fucus, with no bumps or...
Spiral Wrack – Fucus spiralis
Serrated Wrack - Fucus serratus Fucuses are brown seaweed which cover alot of the middle of rockyshores in the UK. Spiral wrack can be told apart from the other Fucus species if you look at the way it hangs down. If you see the ends of the fronds spiral then ......
Thongweed – Himanthalia elongata
Thongweed - Himanthalia elongata Thongweed, names because well.... look at the pictures your see. A long seaweed made up of single strands that can stretch for several metres, its one of the few seaweeds you will have trouble misidentifying! I dont have a video...
Channelled wrack – Pelvetia canaliculata
Channelled wrack - Pelvetia canaliculata This seaweed can be found right at the top of the shore! It has some amazing adaptations, explained in this video, about how its able to survive hours out of water in the sun without drying out and dying. Its one of the only...
Sugar Kelp – Saccharina latissima
Sugar Kelp - Saccharina latissima This another species of Kelp you can find in the UK, but is less common than Laminaria digitata, which tends to form much larger kelp beds. Still important this kelp species can be easily told apart both by shape, this is long and...
Egg Wrack – Ascophyllum nodosum
Egg Wrack - Ascophyllum nodosum Finally a seaweed with a common name that makes sense! Egg wrack, a seaweed named so because its formed of long tubes with egg shape and size spheres along it. Its also has a seaweed friend, Polysiphonia lanosa, which grows on it...
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