Category: Plants, Algae, & Fungi

Lone Rockweed Among Barnacles

Chris Harley

Award winner

Intertidal species like rockweed (Fucus distichus) and thatched barnacles (Semibalanus cariosus) create highly diverse habitats and can protect associated species from the effects of extreme events like heatwaves. This solitary Fucus is unusually upright because it has lost most of its photosynthetic tissue, possibly due to grazing by invertebrates like the limpet (Lottia pelta) sitting at its base.