Biodiversity & Conservation

A brown seaweed - Dictyopteris membranacea

Dictyopteris membranacea

Image Keith Hiscock - Dictyopteris membranacea on the south coast of Devon. Image width ca XX cm.
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Distribution map

Dictyopteris membranacea 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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Dictyopteris membranacea is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Ochrophyta Brown and yellow-green seaweeds
Class Phaeophyceae
Authority (Stackhouse) Batters 1902
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland A southern species present in large amounts only in the extreme south-west of Britain with a few records from west Scotland.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Dictyopteris membranacea is essentially a sublittoral species although it is sometimes found on the lower shore.
Text page icon Description Up to 30 cm in length, Dictyopteris membranacea superficially resembles the Fucus species but is much more delicate. The frond is thinner (up to 15 cm wide), membranous and dotted with numerous clusters of tiny hairs. It is yellowish in colour when juvenile, growing darker brown with age. Newly collected specimens have an unpleasant odour.
Identifying features
  • Prominent midrib.
  • Frond flattened and branching dichotomously.
  • Holdfast disc-like and fibrous.
  • Tips of branches rounded and slightly split or notched.
Additional information icon Additional information Can be distinguished from Dictyota dichotoma by its larger size and the presence of a midrib.

This review can be cited as follows:

Marie Skewes 2007. Dictyopteris membranacea. 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 09/02/2010]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=3165>