Distribution and Ecology
Alaria esculenta is well known in the British Isles save the south and east of England. It is perennial.
It is a common large algae on shores where there is severe wave exposure attached to rocks just below low-watermark in the "Laminaria belt", and is common on rocky shores in exposed places. It has a fairly high intrinsic growth rate compared to other algae, 5.5% per day and a carrying capacity of about 2 kg wet weight per square meter. It may reach lengths of about 2.5 m. It overlaps to a small degree (+) in distribution with Fucus serratus and somewhat more with Laminaria digitata. It has low and high light limitation values of about 5 and 70 W per square meter respectively. Its distribution is also limited by salinity, wave exposure, temperature, desiccation and general stress. These, and other attributes of the algae are summarized in Lewis (1964) and Seip 1980.
Leaf-like sporophylls develop from the stipe and produce zoospores.
Read more about this topic: Alaria Esculenta
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