Biodiversity & Conservation

Bearded red seaweed - Anotrichium barbatum

Anotrichium barbatum

Image Christine Campbell - Laboratory specimen of Anotrichium barbatum. Plant width ca 3 cm.
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Distribution map

Anotrichium barbatum 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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  • UK_BAP
Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Rhodophyta Red seaweeds
Class Florideophyceae
Authority (C Agardh) Nageli
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Isolated records at Cardigan Bay (between Pwllheli and Abersoch), Wales and Torquay.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Found on pebbles and gravel in old oyster beds.
Text page icon Description A small, filamentous, rose-pink seaweed forming much-branched, extremely delicate tufts 2-6cm high.
Identifying features
  • Whorl of branched hair-like filaments on younger vegetative cells, these filaments later bear the reproductive structures.
  • 2-6cm high.
  • Rose-pink in colour.
Additional information icon Additional information There is no common name but 'bearded anotrichium' is proposed.

This review can be cited as follows:

Emily Wilson 2003. Anotrichium barbatum. Bearded red seaweed. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 09/02/2010]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=2529>