Red & Purple Algae

Red & Purple Algae
Red & Purple Algae

Red algae actually vary in color from straw-yellow to deep-purple or black in appearance.

Agardh's Red Weed - Agardhiella subulata is very common and grows in tufts and clumps to about 12" in sunny shallow areas.

Laver or Porphyra ( above ) is similar to Ulva in many ways, although unrelated. It grows interspersed with Ulva in shallow sunny areas, and like Ulva, it is edible.

Red & Purple Algae
A common purple type known as Dasya or Chenille Weed.

Basking Shark

Cetorhinus maximus

Size:
to 45 ft

Habitat:
open ocean

Notes:
harmless

The Basking Shark is second in size only to the Whale Shark, and much more likely to be spotted in our cool northern waters. Like the Whale Shark, the Basking Shark is a harmless plankton feeder. While the Whale Shark has a brown and cream checkerboard pattern on its back, the Basking Shark is more uniformly gray, making identification easy. It also differs in profile: while the Whale Shark has a broad square snout, the Basking Shark has a pointed conical snout, much like its cousin the Great White, for which it may be mistaken.

Printed from njscuba.net