Saccorhiza polyschides (Lightfoot) Batters
Names: formerly known as
Saccorhiza bulbosa. Furbelows or Furbellows (English),
Claíomh (Irish). The base is often known as
"Sea Hedgehog".
Description: Thallus laminate, yellowish to
dark brown, generally to 3 m long; holdfast large, hollow and
covered in smooth warts (below, bottom; thus "Sea
Hedgehog") when mature, giving rise to a flattened oar-like
stipe with beautifully symmetrical frilly "wings"
(below, left and right) with a single twist at the base. Stipe
forming a single digitate fronds with irregularly lacinate
"digits", these are dotted with groups of hairs.
Habitat: lower intertidal and shallow subtidal.
Generally filling in "holes" in shallow-water
Laminaria digitata forests. This is an annual kelp, essentially an opportunist
that colonises any vacant space in the forest, but cannot
compete with the dominant species.
Distribution: widely distributed in Britain,
Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal. South to the Canary
Islands, Morocco, Ghana and Mauritania.
Key characteristics: Hedgehog-like base (absent
in very young plants), flattened oar-like stipe with frilly
edges at base. A flattened stipe of this kind is not found in
any other kelp.
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