Colorful marine plants, including giant kelp that is two to three hundred meters long!

Produced by: Science Popularization China

Author: Blue Ocean Team

Producer: China Science Expo

In the vast and rich ocean, in addition to various animals, there are also a wide variety of marine plants with various shapes and forms. Marine plants can be simply divided into two categories: lower algae and higher seed plants.

Seaweed in the intertidal zone

Algae vary greatly in size. The smallest marine unicellular algae are so tiny that they can only be seen under a microscope, while the largest giant algae can reach 200 to 300 meters in length, making them the best algae. Seed plants in the ocean, such as giant algae and mangroves, are relatively rare.

(Photo source: veer photo gallery)

Marine plants are the "fertile grasslands" of the ocean world. They are not only the natural "pastures" of marine fish, shrimps, crabs, shellfish, sea beasts and other animals, but also green food for humans, a provider of industrial raw materials and agricultural fertilizers with a wide range of uses, and an important raw material for the manufacture of marine medicines. Some seaweeds, such as giant kelp, can also be used as energy substitutes. Light is the energy source of marine plants, temperature is the growth factor of marine plants, and mineral nutrients are the nutrients of marine plants.

(Photo source: veer photo gallery)

Seaweed is a large family of marine organisms. There are more than 8,000 species, ranging from single-celled diatoms and dinoflagellates that can only be seen under a microscope to giant algae that are hundreds of meters tall. Brown algae are unique to the ocean and are characterized by their huge size. Giant algae, Fucus, Cysticercus, Laminaria japonica, and Sargassum are among the famous brown algae.

Kelp is a seafood that Chinese people like to eat. It not only has a strong seafood flavor, but is also rich in nutrition, containing iodine and other minerals and vitamins. Other seaweeds with edible and medicinal value include laver, wakame, agar-agar, etc., which are very familiar to Chinese people. People in Eastern countries such as China and Japan have a very long history of eating seaweed and using seaweed as medicine.

(Photo source: veer photo gallery)

Algae are ancient and primitive low-value organisms, widely distributed in rivers, lakes, swamps and oceans. They are of various types and forms, and are a large group of plants. Algae are low-level autotrophic plants containing chlorophyll and other auxiliary pigments. The plant body is single-celled, single-celled, or multi-celled. Algae do not have true roots, stems, or leaves. The entire plant is a simple thallus. All parts of the algae have the function of producing organic matter, so algae are also called thallus plants.

Seaweed is the main body of marine plants and a great natural treasure of mankind. Currently, there are more than 100 species of marine algae that can be used as food. Here are some of the more common seaweeds.

Enteromorpha

The algae are grass green, tubular, membranous, clump-like, with obvious main branches and slender branches, up to 1 meter high. They grow on mid-tidal mudflats and rocks. The peak growth period is from December to April of the following year. They are dominant species along the coast of Zhejiang and are distributed along the coast of my country. This species is a temperate seaweed that is common worldwide. They are edible.

(Photo source: veer photo gallery)

Oysters

The algae are green, lamellar, membranous, with two layers of cells, growing in clusters, 2 to 3 cm high. The leaves are deeply split from the edge to the base into many lobes, overlapping each other, like a double-petaled flower. It grows on rocks in the high and middle tidal zones or in small rocky swamps. It can be seen all year round. The peak growth period is from May to June. It is distributed along the coast of my country. This species is a warm temperate seaweed unique to the western North Pacific. It can be used as feed.

Ulva pertusa

The algae are grass green to dark green, flaky, membranous, with two layers of cells, 15-20 cm high. The edges are wavy, and there are holes of varying sizes on the algae. They grow on rocks or in rocky bogs in the mid- and low-tidal zones. The peak growth period is April to June. They can be used as feed.

Echinops sphenanthera

The algae is dark green to black green, spongy, single-celled and multinucleate, 10 to 30 cm high. It has compound forked branches, and the branches are cylindrical, with a diameter of 1.5 to 5 mm. It grows on rocks in the mid- and low-tidal zones or in rocky swamps. It grows all year round. The peak growth period is from July to September. It is a dominant species along the coast of Zhejiang and is distributed along the coast of my country. This species is a pan-warm temperate seaweed that occurs worldwide. It can be used for food and medicine.

Sargassum

The algae is dark brown, tree-like, hard and coarse, 50-70 cm high. The main trunk is cylindrical, short, with several strong main branches growing on the top. The main branches are triangular in the lower part and nearly cylindrical in the upper part. The lower leaves are long and wide, strongly recurved downward, with a midrib, entire or serrated; the upper leaves are lanceolate, with sharp serrations on the leaf margins. The air sac is round or fusiform, the crown leaf is tongue-shaped, and the wing leaf may or may not be present. The reproductive suspensory is club-shaped or spoon-shaped, and the suspensory is 5-10 mm long. The female suspensory is short. It grows on rocks 1-2 meters below the low tide line with smooth tides. It can be seen all year round, and the peak growth period is from April to August. It is produced in Nanji. It is distributed discontinuously along the coast of my country. This species is a warm temperate seaweed unique to the western North Pacific. It can be used as a raw material for seaweed industry.

Finally, I have to sigh that in the vast ocean, there are colorful marine plants, which are really wonderful and beautiful!