Of purple laver, tongue weed and hedgehog seaweed: common red seaweeds of the Cape Peninsula

Abstract

The fourth part of our series on the common intertidal seaweeds of the Cape Peninsula looks at the red seaweeds, which form by far the largest group of seaweeds on the Peninsula and dominate the mid to lower intertidal area to a large extent. Like the brown seaweeds many of the reds are fleshy and bulky and generally occur lower down the shore because they are less tolerant of salinity and temperature extremes than some of the common green seaweeds.