| Description: |
Sargassum muticum is a large brown seaweed, varying in colour from dark brown to pale, yellowish brown depending on the season and the growing conditions. S. muticum has regularly alternating lateral shoots or branches, on a central perennial stem. It attaches to the substrate with a disc-shaped holdfast. It has numerous small 2–3 mm round or pear-shaped air-bladders which sit on small stems and cause the alga to stand upright in the water or float if parts of the alga are detached from the basal stem. S. muticum has a frond which may be 75–120 cm long in its native range, but normally reaches a length of 1.5–2 m in Swedish waters, 6–7 m in French waters, and up to 8.5 m in Norwegian waters. Lateral branches detach in the summer or autumn, leaving a short perennial basal stem to overwinter (Wallentinus 1999). During the summer, cigar-shaped reproductive receptacles develop in the areas where the annual shoot or “branch” attaches to the stem, but may also sit on top of the branch. |
Species:
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Sargassum muticum (Yendo) Fensholt |
