Biodiversity & Conservation

A brown seaweed - Carpomitra costata - General information

Carpomitra costata

Image Keith Hiscock - Carpomitra costata outlined against sea fingers. Image width ca xx cm
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Distribution map

Carpomitra costata recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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Carpomitra costata is not listed under any importance categories.

General information

Key Icon Researched by: Marie Skewes Text page icon Refereed by:

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy

Phylum Ochrophyta Brown and yellow-green seaweeds
Class Phaeophyceae
Map icon Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland Carpomitra costata is a southern species found in the southern UK and the Channel Islands and recorded as far north as the Isle of Man, Donegal, Coll Island and St Kilda.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Carpomitra costata is epilithic on bedrock and boulders and can be found from the sublittoral to depths of up to 37 m.
Text page icon Description A brown algae with many branched, dorso-ventrally flattened, slightly elliptical thalli, arising from a small stipe and a fibrous holdfast. Fronds up to 25 cm long and 1-3 mm wide, and light to olive brown in colour. Blades quite firm and cartilaginous with a distinct midrib. Tips of fronds with tufts of 'hair'. Specialised structures bearing reproductive organs (receptacles) are formed from extending midrib tissue and are conical or cylindrical and colourless.

This review can be cited as follows:

Marie Skewes 2008. Carpomitra costata. A brown seaweed. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 03/09/2010]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=2895>