Just curious about these things

[Seaweed Doc]

Pretty interesting that the Chorda is from its own kingdom, neither plant nor animal? Going to have to read more on this.

Yeah, it goes by different names. These days folks I trust call it the Chromalveolata and it includes dinoflagellates, ciliates, the causal agent for malaria (which is a degraded alga if you ask me), water molds, diatoms and a bunch of other little brownish-yellowish-greenish things, and the brown algae including kelps.

A good source for algal taxonomy (the best, in my professional view) is www.algaebase.org. If you enter Chorda as the genus or Chorda filum as the species, then click the appropriate link, it spits out a reliable taxonomy among lots of other info.

 

[RyanT]

@Seaweed Doc, I love this! As an animal biologist, all things plant/bacteria/algae are tad foreign to me. I wasn't familiar with algaebase. What a cool resource. Thanks again!

 

[icechip]

Great resource, Seaweed Doc! Only wish they had more photos to go with the info.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

Great resource, Seaweed Doc! Only wish they had more photos to go with the info.

Yeah, it's mostly a resource for students and professors focusing on algae who likely have at least a sense of what they look like. Not really a field guide. In some cases, a photo isn't enough and DNA sequencing is really required. With this source, algaebase.org, the producers won't put anything up that isn't certain, at least in terms of a scientific consensus.

Unfortunately for weird critters like seaweeds, wikipedia and other general web sources are notoriously bad.

 

[trygon]

As a self described algae nerd these two field guides have served me well:
Marine Plants of the Caribbean Littler, D&M, Bucher, K & Norris J Smithsonian Inst./Airlife 1989 1-85310-084-6 and
Pacific Seaweeds Druehl, Louis Harbour Publishing 2007 978-1-55017-240-9

 

[Seaweed Doc]

As a self described algae nerd these two field guides have served me well:
Marine Plants of the Caribbean Littler, D&M, Bucher, K & Norris J Smithsonian Inst./Airlife 1989 1-85310-084-6 and
Pacific Seaweeds Druehl, Louis Harbour Publishing 2007 978-1-55017-240-9

The Littler's older book is getting a little dated. Unfortunately, their more recent work (https://www.amazon.com/Caribbean-Pl...r=8-6&keywords=Marine+Plants+of+the+Caribbean) is out of print and going for about $600 on Amazon. If you can find a copy cheap, it's got great photos and descriptions of many more species.

The Pacific is tough, but Louis' book is good for my part of the world. It's tough with such geographic variation. Sandra Lindstrom has some guides out for Alaska. Not sure about So. Cal. or Baja.

 

[icechip]

Any for North Atlantic or New England waters?

 

[Seaweed Doc]

Any for North Atlantic or New England waters?

Let me ask some friends and get back to you. I know I've got a couple on my bookshelf at work, but I don't know for quality.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

My friends weren't much help, nor my bookshelf. The one in Maine had nothing. Another suggested (for one with pics) Seaweeds of Long Island Sound: Margaret "Peg" Stewart Van Patten, Charles Yarish: 9781878301093: Amazon.com: Books

Not sure how similar Long Island Sound is to your neck of the woods, but there should at least be some overlap.

 

[icechip]

Ok, thanks. I'll check it out.