MACOI - Portuguese Seaweeds Website

Class:

Phaeophyceae

Genus:

Ecklonia Hornemann

Species:

Ecklonia maxima

Authority:

(Osbeck) Papenfuss

Description:

This brown algae is one of the largest kelps of the world. Commonly called "sea bamboo," Ecklonia maxima can grow up to 15 meters long, with the single large, robust stipe making up the majority of that length. This "stem" expands to form a gas-filled float at its apex that sits at the surface of the water, out of which emerges a tangle of leathery blades. There is a flat, solid primary blade from which secondary blades emerge. These secondary blades can quite easily reach 3 meters in length. Because of its hollow stipe and bulb, Ecklonia maxima stays buoyed up in the water column, its blades frequently breaking the surface of the ocean. The holdfast is a strong network of haptera which attaches to rock or to the holdfast of another kelp. Ecklonia maxima tends to dominate shallower temperate waters (up to 8 meters deep), which allows the float to rise and fall with wave action without causing stress to the plant.

Link for Seaweed Industry Association

Link for Algaebase

Name History

Adjective (Latin), largest.

Biogeography

Ecklonia maxima is most common in warm temperate regions such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the northwestern Pacific. Found more rarely in the northeastern Atlantic, but may extend into tropical waters of western Australia and the Gulf of Iran.

Uses and compounds

Animal aquaculture - animal feed (direct and additive). Direct use as food - food, consumed whole. Health, cosmetics, thalasotherapy, wellness & folk medicine - eye pads. Source of hydrocolloids - source of alginate. Source of inorganic chemicals and other compounds - source of potash. Terrestrial plant and animal production - fertiliser (with cytokinins). Aquaculture: Subtidal cultivation - suspended rafts

References

Braune, W. (2008). Meeresalgen. Ein Farbbildführer zu den verbreiteten benthischen Grün- Braun- und Rotalgen der Weltmeere. pp. [1]-596, pls 1-266 (colour photographs). Ruggell: A.R.G. Gantner Verlag.

Habitat:

Marine species

Common names:

Sea bamboo

Type information:

Basionym: Fucus maximus Osbeck Type locality: Cape of Good Hope, South Africa (Silva, Basson & Moe 1996: 639).