Seaweed

Seaweed. Much maligned, especially at low tide when it can stink and attract hordes of beach flies, but lovely and lively when shot as the tide recedes. Here are just a few examples of red, brown and green algae I spotted today with a very amateur attempt at identification...


There are thousands and thousands of red algae. Could this be Porphyra ? Behind in the surf is a green algae, Monostroma.


More of the Porphyra with another red algae, the dark purple Chondrus crispus or Irish moss


Norwegian kelp also known as egg wrack (Ascophyllum nodosum), a relative of the ubiquitous bladderwrack I used to love to pop as a child, and a type of brown algae. The knotty Norwegian kelp is lying poetically on a bed of Mermaid's Hair


The all-too realistic Dead Man's Fingers (Codium fragile)and more Monostroma.

Six distinct types of seaweed found in 15 minutes on a 10' stretch of Long Island Sound on a warm and sunny summer day = perfect beach life.