Ulva fasciata

Sea lettuce

Palahalaha
small species image
click to enlarge


Chaela,Zabin
Sandy Beach April 06, 2004

 
Ulva fasciata
Description Habitat Trophic Info
Safety Comments Links to Resources

Description: Ulva fasciata is one of the most commmon algae species found in Hawaii.  It has flat light green blades that look almost translucent, which are like leaves on a plant, which grow from 1-10 cm wide and can grow to about 5-100 cm long.  It gets its common name sea lettuce since it really looks like lettuce.
Habitat: Ulva faciata lives in intertidal areas like rocks, reef flats and places which have a lot of nutrients.
Range (include invasive, native, endemic): Ulva fasciata is an endemic specie which means that it only lives in Hawaii and is found in no other place.
Trophic information: Algae is at the bottom of the food chain and is eaten by many organisms like slugs, fish, and snails.  Algae is also an autotroph which means that they create their own food by the process of photosynthesis that uses the sun's energy.  During the process of photosynthesis algae creates oxygen for the underwater animals so it is very important to the underwater environment. 
Safety: Ulva fasciata is edible.  The only dangerous thing about seaweed is that it grows on rocks and is very slippery so when our on rocks with algae on them you have to be careful not to fall.
Comments: Algae is used in our every day life.  You may not have known but algae is in foods like jello, pudding and is in things like make up.
Links to Resources:
 
 
 
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