Seaweeds of San Mateo County
San Mateo County, located south of San Francisco and north of Santa Cruz, contains a wide variety of tidepools, from sandy places where Gracilaria thrives, to mudstone reef, to fantastic mixes of conglomerate rocks. These are some images of seaweed denizens of this county.
Bryopsis hypnoides
Thicketweed is a delicate-looking seaweed, just like its family member hen pen. However, the fronds look more like tufts than feathers. It consists of a single cell with many cell nuclei, without partitions. In the Netherlands, thicketweed is only found in the delta region, particularly in the Grevelingen, and in brackish water canals. It grows well near freshwater nutrient-rich inlets.
Gelidium purpurascens
Isotype for Gelidium polystichum N.L. Gardner
Catalog Number: US 56456
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Original publication and alleged type specimen examined
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): N. Gardner
Year Collected: ...more ↓
Sea Lettuce
Ulva lactuca Linnaeus, a green alga in the division Chlorophyta, is the type species of the genus Ulva, also known by the common name sea lettuce.
Chondracanthus canaliculatus
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 0
Specimens with Barcodes: 8
Species With Barcodes: 1
Corallina vancouveriensis
Syntype for Corallina gracilis f. densa Collins in Collins et al.
Catalog Number: US 55123
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): W. A. Setchell & R. Gibbs
Year Collected: 1898
Locality: Dillon Beach., Marin County, ...more ↓
Calliarthron tuberculosum
Calliarthron is a genus containing four species of thalloid intertidalalga. Specimens can reach around 30 cm in size. The thalli take a crustose form. The organisms lack secondary pit connections. Calliarthron reproduces by means of conceptacles; it produces tetraspores, dispores and carpospores. The genus has lignin and contains secondary cell walls, traits which are ...more ↓
Scytosiphon lomentaria
Scytosiphon lomentaria is a littoral brown seaweed with an irregularly lobed many filamentous form. It is a member of the Phaeophyta in the order Dictyosiphonales and grows attached to shells and stones in rock-pools and in near-shore waters. The attachment to the substrate is by a small disc shaped holdfast.
Dead man's fingers
Codium fragile, known commonly as green sea fingers, dead man's fingers, felty fingers,forked felt-alga, sponge seaweed,green sponge,green fleece, and oyster thief, is an invasive species of seaweed in the family Codiaceae.
Laminaria sinclairii
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 0
Specimens with Barcodes: 3
Species With Barcodes: 1
Fucus distichus
Fucus distichus or rockweed is a species of brown alga in the family Fucaceae to be found in the intertidal zones of rocky seashores in the Northern Hemisphere, mostly in rock pools.
Laminaria setchellii
The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.
Winged kelp
Alaria marginata, the winged kelp, is a brown alga species in the genus Alaria. It Can grow up to 13 feet. Fronds are long and narrow with raised midrib and wavy edges. Each frond has two rows of several smooth, oblong, 5 inch spore-bearing blades at the base in winter. The base is attached to rocks.
Codium setchellii
Codium setchellii is an unusual green alga, forming a sinuous blackish - green spongy crust on rocks. It lives in the mid-high intertidal zone. Codium is a multinucleate unicellular alga and ranges from Baja to Alaska.
Microcladia coulteri
Finely branched red alga epiphytic on other red algae, including Chondracanthus, Odonthallia, Mazzaella, and Prionitis. Resembles Plocamium, except that Microcladia coulteri is always epiphytic (and smaller). Range from Baja to British Columbia. Microcladia = "tiny branches"; coulteri = named after 19th century Irish naturalist, Thomas Coulter.
Coilodesme californica
Brown epiphytic alga, often on Cystoseira osmundacea. Found from Alaska to Mexico.
Pyropia perforata
The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.
Pyropia lanceolata
Syntype for Porphyra perforata f. lanceolata Setch. & Hus in Hus
Catalog Number: US 56870
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): H. T. A. Hus
Year Collected: 1899
Locality: San Francisco, Fort Point., San Francisco County, ...more ↓
Bull Kelp
Nereocystis (Greek for "mermaid's bladder") is a monotypic genus of kelp. It forms thick beds on rocks, and is an important part of kelp forests. There is only one species, Nereocystis luetkeana. It can grow to a maximum of 36 meters.Nereocystis has a holdfast of about 40 centimeters, and a single stipe, topped with a pneumatocyst containing carbon monoxide, from ...more ↓
feather boa kelp
Egregia menziesii is a species of kelp known commonly as feather boa kelp. It is native to the coastline of western North America from Alaska to Baja California, where it is a common kelp of the intertidal zone. It is dark brown in color, shiny and bumpy in texture, and may reach over five meters long. It grows a branching stipe from a thick holdfast. It bears long, flat, ...more ↓
Sea Palm
Postelsia, also known as the sea palm (not to be confused with the southern sea palm) or palm seaweed, is a genus of kelp and classified within brown algae. There is only one species, Postelsia palmaeformis, found along the western coast of North America, on rocky shores with constant waves. It is one of the few algae that can survive and remain erect ...more ↓
Macrocystis integrifolia
Macrocystis integrifolia is one of four species of kelp (large brown algae) in the genus Macrocystis which grows to about 6 metres (20 ft) long.
Common Coralline
Corallina officinalis is a calcareous red seaweed which grows in the lower and mid-littoral zones on rocky shores.
