Eskifjördur, Iceland: Eskifjördur is a seaside village in the middle of the East Fjords. It’s located on the north shore of Reyðarfjörður fjord, at the peninsula jutting out from the towering mount Hólmatindur, stand two low peaks – cooled lava intrusions – called Hólmaborgir, the peninsula is preserved for public recreation and a refuge. Is a port in easthern Iceland with large fishing industry. With a population of 1.043 and one of the most populate villages of the municipality of Fjarðabyggð.

Ulva lactuca, also known by sea lettuce, it’s a thin flat green algae that grows from a discoid holdfast. Most of the time it presents a vivid green underwater color, but also can variate from a light yellowish green to a darker green color.

This algae has a margin with ruffles and often torn. It may have some small holes or perforations scattered throughout. The membrane is two cells thick, soft and translucent and grows attached, without a stipe, to rocks by a small disc-shaped holdfast.

It may reach a diameter of 20-30cm, but it’s often smaller, with larger sheets a little thicker.

It can be found all around the world, Europe, North America, Central America, Caribbean Islands, South America, Africa, Indian Ocean Island, South West Asia, China, Pacific Island, Australia and New Zealand. It exists specifically in sheltered bays or in protected areas with limited wave action. Ulva lactuca survives in brackish conditions, sometimes found on suitables substracta in estuaries. It appears all year mostly in summer and autumn.

Ulva lactuca is a nutrient scavenger, being an opportunistic species that can originates massive blooms in favorable conditions. Nutrients that runoff from agricultural lands and over-fertilized urban and rural sites contribute to an exponential growth of the Ulva lactuca, which leads to large quantities of the algae to be washed up on beaches where they produce methane, hydrogen sulphide and other gases.