Biodiversity & Conservation

Sea lace or Dead man's rope - Chorda filum - General information

Chorda filum

Image Steve Trewhella - A stand of sea lace Chorda filum image width ca XX cm.
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Distribution map

Chorda filum 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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Chorda filum is not listed under any importance categories.

General information

Key Icon Researched by: Nicola White Text page icon Refereed by: Dr Stefan Kraan

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy

Phylum Ochrophyta Brown and yellow-green seaweeds
Class Phaeophyceae
Map icon Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland All coasts of Britain and Ireland, but rarer in south east England.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Found in rock pools on the low shore and in the sublittoral down to 5 m. It is most commonly found in sheltered bays attached to stones and shells, often with the holdfast buried in sand.
Text page icon Description Chorda filum is a brown seaweed with long cord-like fronds, only 5 mm thick in diameter. The fronds are hollow, slippery, unbranched and grow up to 8 m long. The species attaches to the substratum using a small discoid holdfast. It is an annual species, disappearing in winter.

This review can be cited as follows:

Nicola White 2006. Chorda filum. Sea lace or Dead man's rope. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 09/02/2012]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=2974>