Marine scientist specializing in seaweeds (PhD, MSc), with soft spots for marine invertebrates, mosses, and houseplants in the wild. Focus mostly on the northeast Pacific, but with experience in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Hawai'i, and elsewhere.
hfultonbennett.weebly.com

Feel free to tag/@ me for IDs. I tend not to leave comments due to the sheer volume of IDs I make, but I'm always happy to answer questions. Similarly, I may not see a disagreement due to the high number of notifications I get, so please @ me for discussion, happy to retract any mistakes I make.

Tips for photographing seaweeds for ID

• Flatten and spread out the specimen as much as possible
• Try to show the branching pattern (large or small) and any texture/veins in the blade; a white background can help with smaller finely branched species or those with veins (your hand will do in the field)
• Include a wider habitat shot: what the seaweed is attached to, how high it is in the intertidal, and the species around it can help give context
• For kelps, a picture of the holdfast, stipe, and base of blade can help distinguish some similar species.
• BUT not all species can be ID'd photographically, some require microscopic images of cell structure, reproductive structures, or other internal structures.

Seaweed ID Resources

• Seaweeds of Alaska- Northern focus, great online reference with notes on how to differentiate similar species. Also a printed in color on waterproof paper as the best field guide I've come across.
• Marine Algae of California (1976) Abbott & Hollenberg- still the best dichotomous seaweed key out there
• AlgaeBase- especially useful for the distribution search where you can get a list of species for a given location, as well as checking current nomenclature
• Central Coast Biodiversity (British Columbia)- some names out of date and incorrect photos, but not a bad reference.
• New Zealand Seaweeds (2020) Nelson- beautiful book with great notes on habitat and similar species.
• Native and Introduced Hawaiian Marine Algae- Doesn't cover everything, but a good place to start.
• Seaweeds of the South African South Coast
• Key to Seaweeds of Southern Australia
• Seaweeds of the NE Atlantic- No key or grouping, but good species descriptions if you know what you're looking for.
• How to tell apart common Maine seaweeds