Enter Search Terms:
Genus (i.e. Fucus)
Species (i.e. Gardneri)
Common Name (i.e. Rock Weed)
Phylum (i.e. Ochrophyta)
All of the above
Red Sea-cabbage
Turnerella mertensiana
Authority:
(Postels & Ruprecht) Schmitz
North Pacific Distribution:
Bering Sea and Aleutian Is., Alaska, to northern Washington; Japan; Russia.
Phylum:
Rhodophyta
Class:
Florideophyceae
Order:
Gigartinales
Family:
Furcellariaceae
Former Scientific Names:
Iridaea mertensiana, Iridaea punicea
Description: Thallus is a dark red blade. It lacks a stipe and attaches to the substrate by a small discoidal holdfast. Young blades are frequently undivided (entire) and nearly round, reaching at least 30 cm (12 in) in diameter, but older blades split and become tattered, irregular in shape, and very thick. The large, white “gland cells” in the cortex can be seen with the aid of a hand lens. Habitat: This perennial occurs on rock in the low intertidal to subtidal of semi-protected to semi-exposed shores. Similar taxa: Opuntiella.

Comments:
The occurrence of this species in northern Washington needs to be verified.

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