Biodiversity & Conservation

Sugar kelp - Saccharina latissima

Saccharina latissima

Image Sue Scott - Buoy line with Saccharina latissima. Image width ca 2.5 m in foreground.
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Distribution map

Saccharina latissima recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

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Saccharina latissima is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Ochrophyta Brown and yellow-green seaweeds
Class Phaeophyceae
Authority (Linnaeus) C.E. Lane, C. Mayes, Druehl & G.W. Saunders
Recent synonyms Laminaria saccharina (until 2006).
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland All coasts of Britain & Ireland.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Saccharina latissima is usually found from the sublittoral fringe down to a depth of 30 m. More rarely it occurs in rock pools. The species usually occurs in sheltered conditions and may attach to unstable substrata such as boulders and cobbles.
Text page icon Description A large brown kelp, which has a long undivided frond, without midrib and with a short stipe. The frond of Saccharina latissima has a distinctive frilly undulating margin. It lives for 2 to 4 years and grows quickly from winter to April.
Identifying features
  • A long undivided frond with wrinkled surface and wavy margins, rising from a smooth flexible stipe.
  • Without midrib.
  • Small branching holdfast.
  • Yellowish-brown in colour.
  • Up to 4 m long.
Additional information icon Additional information Also known as sugar kelp and sea-belt. The name sugar kelp refers to a whitish, sweet-tasting powder which forms on the dried frond.

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This review can be cited as follows:

Nicola White and Charlotte Marshall 2007. Saccharina latissima. Sugar kelp. 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=4280>