Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Sea braid

This lacy red seaweed shows up on the beach after any stormy weather, always in fragments. I turned the microscope on it.

Sea braid, aka sea comb, Plocamiuim cartilagineum subsp. pacificum.

The name is longer than the typical fragment, although the alga, in its place at mid-tide level, grows to about 25cm., about 10 inches tall.

I zoomed in.

Branching pattern: two branches on one side, alternating with two or three on the other.

Zooming in again.

And again.

If I had a stronger microscope. would those last branches also have branches?

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Este pequeña alga roja llega a nuestras playas después de cada tempestad, siempre en fragmentos. La miré bajo el microscopio.

Aquí la llamamos peine de mar, o alternativamente trenzas de mar. En su sitio de origen, al nivel entre mareas medias, alcanza unos 25 centímetros de alto.

Las ramas salen de dos en dos; dos de un lado, y luego dos (o tres) del otro.

A cada vuelta del botón en el microscopio, aparecen otras ramas. Me pregunto; si tuviera un microscopio más fuerte, ¿tendrían estas últimas ramas sus propias ramas?


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