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 coast, but with experience in 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• Central Coast Biodiversity (British Columbia)- some names out of date and incorrect photos, but not a bad reference.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 commone Maine seaweeds