Furbelows Seaweed at Studland Bay

The seaweed that had washed ashore most frequently, when I recently visited Studland beach, was a brown kelp commonly called Furbelows, with the Latin name Saccorhiza polyschides (Lightfoot) Batters. The interesting features of this common British brown alga (Phaeophyceae) are the odd bulbous hollow holdfast with its warty surface texture and ‘rootlets; and the curious thin, flat, wavy, and folded edges that project from the stem. Both of these characters are shown in close-up photographs here. I have also written about this species in earlier posts where you can find more information about FURBELOWS: https://natureinfocus.wordpress.com/?s=Saccorhiza+polyschides.

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