| Family: |
Sargassaceae () |
| Max. size: |
|
| Environment: |
sessile; marine; depth range 0 - 53 m |
| Distribution: |
Indo-Pacific: from Eritrea to South Africa to Madagascar and India, including Western Australia, Andaman, Nicobar and Christmas Islands and from China to the South China Sea, Australia, including Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, and French Polynesia; from east to Chile, including American Samoa, Samoan Archipelago, Cook and Hawaiian Islands. |
| Diagnosis: |
Thalli erect and tough, dark brown, attached to rocky substrate by coarse branched holdfasts. Alternating turbinate, fleshy leaves with a terete stalk, crowded along the erect axis; distal end of leaves expanded to form a somewhat circular and fleshy marginal blade, outlined by sharp and coarse teeth; centre of blade concave and conspicuously surrounded, partially or fully, by a crown of teeth; single vesicles may be found at the depressed centre, usually among the leaves at the upper portion of the thallus. Receptacular branches racemose, 5 to 7 mm long, attached to the stalk of the leaves, about 1/3 the distance from the base, their distal portions irregularly forked. Thalli up to 17 cm in height (Ref. 80758). |
| Biology: |
Used for human consumption, as insect repellant and fertilizer; source of algin, tannins and
phenols (Ref. 80758). Thrives mostly on rocky reef areas exposed to strong water turbulence, also on coralline rocks in calmer waters, commonly partially exposed during very low tides (Ref. 80758). |
| IUCN Red List Status: |
Not Evaluated (N.E.) Ref. 123251)
|
| Threat to humans: |
harmless |
| Country info: |
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