Biodiversity & Conservation

A brown seaweed - Bifurcaria bifurcata

Bifurcaria bifurcata

Image Nova Mieszkowska - Bifurcaria bifurcata on exposed shore at Portland Bill, Dorset. Image width ca 50 cm.
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Distribution map

Bifurcaria bifurcata 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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Bifurcaria bifurcata is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Ochrophyta Brown and yellow-green seaweeds
Class Phaeophyceae
Authority R Ross 1958
Recent synonyms Bifurcaria rotunda (Hudson) Papenfuss 1950
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Bifurcaria bifurcata is a southern species found on the Atlantic coast of France, Spain and Portugal and extending to the south and west coasts of England and the west coast of Ireland where it is sometimes common. It is absent from Scotland.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Bifurcaria bifurcata is usually found in rock pools on the middle and lower shore, particularly on exposed beaches. It also forms a low water zone in some locations in south-west England and west Ireland.
Text page icon Description Up to 50 cm in length. Olive-yellow in colour, but much darker when dry. Holdfast expanded and knobbly. Frond cylindrical, unbranched near base then branching dichotomously. Elongate reproductive bodies present at ends of branches. Rounded air bladders sometimes present.
Identifying features
  • Sterile tips to fronds are rounded and slightly enlarged.
  • Air bladders, if present, are small.
  • Unlike the other fucoids, Bifurcaria bifurcata has no disc-like holdfast.
Additional information icon Additional information Bifurcaria bifurcata is perennial and hermaphroditic.

This review can be cited as follows:

Marie Skewes 2008. Bifurcaria bifurcata. 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/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=2760>