#durvillaeaceae

[boiga]

Southern bull kelp (Durvillaea sp.) in Antarctica

by John Turnbull

[drhoz]

#3921 - Durvillaea willana

The binomial honours French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville and New Zealand botanical collector Mrs. Eileen Willa.

A Bull Kelp endemic to New Zealand. It resembles Durvillaea antarctica, which is abundant in the same areas, but is shorter, darker, has a branching stipe, and non-bouyant blade, and usually grows in deeper water.

Waipapa Point, Aotearoa New Zealand

[boiga]

Southern bull kelp (Durvillaea sp.) on the Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania, Australia

by John Turnbull

[drhoz]

#2632- Durvillaea antarctica - New Zealand Bull Kelp

AKA cochayuyo and rimurapa.

A large, robust species of kelp found on the coasts of Chile, southern Aotearoa, and Macquarie Island. Unlike many brown algae, the species lacks air bladders and instead maintain bouyancy with their unique honeycomb structure. They attach to rocky sea bottoms with a holdfast that grips so tightly that quite often the rock will break off before the plant does - this is a significant cause of erosion on some coastlines.

Stems and holdfasts of D. antarctica and D. incurvata are harvested from the coast of Chile and are used salads and stews.

Kelps and other brown algae contain chloroplasts with four cell membranes - this probably indicates they arose as a symbiosis of some ancestral eukaryotic organism and a green or red alga. Brown algae dominate habitats like the Kelp Forests and floating Sargassum beds, and can grow to over 50m in length in some species, and up to 50cm a day.

Timaru, Aotearoa New Zealand

[drhoz]

#2732 - Durvillaea poha

AKA Rimurapa. The specific epithet is from the Māori  word pōhā, storage bags made from kelp fronds.

Until 2012, considered the 'Cape form' of Durvillaea antarctica. Found around the South Island, Stewart Island, as the subantarctic Snares and Auckland Islands. The range overlaps with D. antarctica over much of those coastlines, although usually higher up or further back on rock platforms, or in more sheltered bays.

Also found on southern coastlines of the North Island, at least where earthquake-driven uplift and landslides wiped out the D. antarctica kelp forests.

Shag Point, Aotearoa New Zealand