Gigartina polycarpa, or tongue
weed, is a tough, fleshy seaweed bearing oval blades. Individuals of this species are
characteristically rough and
bear
numerous
papillae
(sometimes the blades are even
rippled) giving the appearance
of a rough tongue. The colour
varies from yellow-brown to
reddish-brown to almost black.
With Aeodes it is quite abundant in the lower half of the
intertidal zone.
Tongue weed, Gigartina polycarpa.
Sarcothalia stiriata, or twisted
gigartina (it was previously classified under the genus Gigartina),
is a fleshy, rubbery, translucent
seaweed that often occurs in
equally high densities with G.
polycarpa in the lower intertidal
area.
There are two forms.
Spore producing individuals are
smooth, somewhat flattened and
forked at their apices while gamete (male and female) producing
individuals are contorted (hence
the name) into irregularly proliferating fleshy papillae. The colour varies from a translucent yellow-green to reddish-brown to
almost black.
Sarcothalia stiriata got its common name, twisted gigartina, from the
contorted appearance of its gamete producing form. Both spore and
gamete producing forms are often found growing side by side.
The hedgehog seaweed Nothogenia erinacea with its densely
packed tuft-like outgrowths.
Nothogenia
erinacea,
aptly
called the hedgehog seaweed,
consists of elongated leaf-like
blades that are tough and
leathery when wet, and papery when dry. The blades
bear
numerous
densely
packed tuft-like outgrowths
giving the seaweed its hedgehog-like appearance. The colour varies from yellow-brown
to almost black. The species
is very common in the mid to
lower intertidal zone.