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Name derivation:

Saccharina latissima= L. saccharinus: sugary, as covered with sugar; latissima= L. latus: broad, wide + issima: very much so

Common names: broadleaf kelp, kelp, oar weed, poor man’s weatherglass, sea belt, sea tangle, sugar kelp, sugar wrack, & tangle weed

Saccharina longicruris: L. longus: long + cruris: legs

Common names: kelp or Atlantic kelp)

Classification:

Saccharina Stackhouse, 1809: There are 50 species of which 21 have been accepted taxonomically.

Order Laminariales; Family Laminariaceae

 

Morphology:

Saccharina latissima has a flattened blade with variable sizes and shapes, which is attached to an elongated solid stipe. By contrast, S. longicruris has a hollow stipe.

 

Similar genera:

Laminaria

Habitat:

Saccharina latissima and S. longicruris are both more common in sheltered open coastal and estuarine sites than Alaria esculenta and Laminaria digitata that dominate more exposed habitats.

 

Mariculture:

Saccharina japonica (formerly Laminaria japonica) is the most important economic seaweed in China. Mariculture on artificial floating rafts started in 1952. More detail on amount of harvest and value is online.

Saccharina latissima is currently growing on horizontal lines in a sea farm in Casco Bay ME USA near Falmouth by Oceans Approved Inc. and sold on the international kelp market. ‘Kelp Farming Manual’ (Flavin et al. 2013) is available online. Thanks to Bill Flahive (personal communication) for this information.

Polysaccharides (fucoidans such as fucose, mannose and galactose) are extracted from cell walls and used in a variety of food products as thickeners in ice cream and beverages. They also accumulate heavy metals such a cadmium, and so are indicators of contamination of seawater as well as potentially dangerous to ingest.

One of the novel commercial uses is ‘kelp beer’ where the kelp adds flavor, similar to Scottish ‘kelpie' ale (Williams Brothers Brewing Company, Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland). In North America ‘kelp stout’ (Tofino Brewing Company, BC Canada); and 'Sea Belt' scotch ale is produced in Maine (Marshall Wharf Brewing Company, Belfast ME USA) the first batch was served in a pub in Belfast on 15 July 2014.

 

References:

Flahive, Bill. Personal Communication.

Flavin, K., N. Flavin, and B. Flahive. 2013. Kelp Farming Manual. A guide to the processes, techniques, and equipment for farming kelp in New England Waters. Ocean Approved.

Guiry, M.D., and G.M. Guiry 2013. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched on 16 January 2013.

Lane, C.E., C. Mayes, L.D. Druehl and G.W. Saunders 2006. A multi-gene molecular investigation of the kelp (Laminariales, Phaeophyceae) supports substantial taxonomic re-organization. Journal of Phycology 42: 493-512.

Michel, G., T. Tonon, D. Scornet, J.M. Cock, and B. Kloareg 2010. The cell wall polysaccharide metabolism of the brown alga Ectocarpus siliculosus. Insights into the evolution of extracellular matrix polysaccharides in Eukaryotes. New Phytologist 199(1):82-97. [online]

Reyes-Prieto A, A.P. Weber, and D. Bhattacharya 2007. The origin and establishment of the plastid in algae and plants. Annual Review of Genetics 41: 147–168.

Stackhouse, J. 1809. Tentamen marino-cryptogamicum, ordinem novum; in genera et species distributum, in Classe XXIVta Linnaei sistens. Mémoires de la Société Imperiale des Naturalistes de Moscou 2: [50]-97.

Taylor, W. R. 1957. Marine Algae of the Northeastern Coast of North America. Revised edition. University of Michigan Press., Ann Arbor, ix + 509 pp.