Biodiversity & Conservation

A green seaweed - Prasiola stipitata

Prasiola stipitata

Image Keith Hiscock - Prasiola stipitata on rock. Image width ca XX cm.
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Distribution map

Prasiola stipitata 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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Prasiola stipitata is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Chlorophyta Green seaweeds and stoneworts
Class Trebouxiophyceae
Authority Suhr ex Jessen (1848)
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Widely distributed around the British coast in suitable habitats.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Prasiola stipitata grows in bands or patches on bedrock and stones, especially those that receive nitrate enrichment from nearby roosting sea birds, in the supralittoral and littoral fringe, and extends into estuaries. It inhabits wave-exposed to moderately exposed sites.
Text page icon Description Prasiola stipitata is a small, dark green, wedge-shaped to oval algae, which grows up to 1 cm long. It has a flat membrane, narrowing to the distinct stem-like structure (stipe) half as long as length of the frond. The margins of the frond are curled.
Identifying features
  • Grows as small, dark green tufts.
  • Frond fan or spear shaped.
  • Stipe half to one, or more times as long as the blade.
Additional information icon Additional information The most common of the Prasiola species although records of it may include other Prasiola species with which it has been confused (Hardy & Guiry, 2003). The cellular structure of the stipe and blade or the thallus is requires to discriminate between species (see Burrows, 1991 for details).

Its abundance in maximal in winter. In the south of Britain and as far north as the Orkneys, it disappears in summer. But further north Prasiola stipitata persists through the whole year (Burrows, 1991).

This review can be cited as follows:

Rose Edwards 2003. Prasiola stipitata. A green 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=4199>