Chondrus crispus

Description  

Chondrus crispus is a low bushy plant with a variety of forms and colors, from dark red, brown-red, purplish green, and brownish yellow to whitish yellow in strong sunlight. Normally 7-15 cm tall, with tough, flat fronds that divide regularly and often form a broad fan-shape tapering down to a narrow base and small disc-shaped holdfast. Under water, the branch tips have a violet iridescence that disappears when the plant is not submerged.  The appearance of the Carrageen present depends on the exposure of the shore. In more sheltered estuarine shores Chondrus stipes (stalks) are short and the plant bushy with small divisions at the ends, while in exposed shores the stipe is longer and the plant narrower with sparser branching. Chondrus crispus may be readily distinguished from Mastocarpus stellatus by the fact that its frond margins do not become inrolled into a channel, and also the latter tends to have numerous pustular small fruiting bodies emerging from the frond

Distribution

Chondrus crispus growing on rocks

Carrageen Moss is an umbrella name to describe Chondrus crispus and its look-alike Mastocarpus stellatus. They are both very common red seaweeds found in both European and the Atlantic North American intertidal coastline. Generally both Chondrus crispus and Mastocarpus stellatus, are found in the mid-low shore on rock surfaces and also in rock pools or other poorly drained surfaces.    

Mastocarpus stellatus, note the small fruiting bodies on the fronds

Nutritional analysis

Commercial cultivation of Mastocarpus stellatus in Ireland