#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
