What is Algae?

Question

What exactly is algae? I was told it's good for your health. How do you get it from food?

Answer 1

Certain species are edible, the best known is Palmaria palmata (Linnaeus) O.Kuntze (Rhodymenia palmata (Linnaeus) Kuntze), common name: dulse. This is a red species which is dried and may be bought in the shops in Ireland. It is eaten raw, fresh or dried, or cooked like spinach Porphyra, common name: purple laver, is also collected and used in a variety of ways (e.g. "laver bread" in the British Isles. In Ireland it is collected and made into a jelly by stewing or boiling. Preparation also involves frying with fat or convertng to a pinkish jelly by heating the fronds in a soucepan with a little water and beating with a fork. It is also collected and used in by people of Oriental background along most of the coast from California to British Columbia. The Hawaiians and the Maoris of New Zealand also use it. Chondrus crispus, (probably confused with Mastocarpus stellatus), common name: Irish moss, is also used as "carrageen" for the stiffening of milk and dairy products, such as ice-cream. One particular use is in "instant" puddings, sauces and creams. Ulva lactuca common name: sea lettuce, is used locally in Scotland where it is added to soups or used in salads. Alaria esculenta common name: dabberlocks, is used either fresh or cooked, in Greenland, Iceland, Scotland and Ireland. For centuries seaweed has been used as manure: "This kind of ore they often gather and lay in heaps where it heteth and rotteth, and will have a strong and loathsome smell; when being so rotten they cast it on the land, as they do their muck, and thereof springeth good corn, especially barley." (ref. Chapman,1950). There are also commercial uses of algae as agar.

Answer 2

Algae actually refers to a very primitive form of plant life. Most algaes are microscopic, but some (such as kelp) grow to be truly gigantic in size.

Not all algaes are beneficial: Those that cause the red tides, for instance, are down right poisonous.

But some can be good for you, if used right.

Answer 3

Pond scums, terrestrial algae, snow algae, seaweeds, freshwater and marine phytoplankton etc. Plant body relatively undifferentiated, no true roots, leaves, etc.

Algae are very simple chlorophyll-containing organisms: some say that they are plants; other say that the are not, calling them Protists. We use the term "algae" very loosely because defining them is very difficult. In general, we can say that they are simple organisms composed of one cell, or grouped together in colonies, or as organisms with many cells, sometimes collaborating together as simple tissues.

Most algae form some sort of spore, which is a cell that is often motile and serves to reproduce the organism. Algae also have sex, often a very simple kind of sex where the algae themselves act as gametes, but sometimes very complicated with egg and sperm-like cells.

Some of the larger kelps have translocation but most do not. No need for water-conducting tissues as they are, at some stage, surrounded by water. Reproduce by spores of some kind. No seeds. Spores may be motile or non-motile; varies from phylum to phylum, e.g., the red and blue-green algae are non-flagellated.

Algae of one kind or another have been around for more than 2 billion years. We are still discovering new algae, sometimes whole groups of them at a time.

Algae of other groups usually have two flagella (singular: flagellum). Reproduction may be isogamous, anisogamous, or oogamous. Female gametangia are not enclosed by a wall of sterile cells as in higher cryptogams. Mostly autotrophic (photosynthetic), pigments very variable and are the basis of classification; all have chlorophyll a; some have b, others c; all have accessory pigments of some kind e.g. phycocyanin (blueish), phycoerythrin (reddish), carotenes (yellow-brown), xanthophylls (brown).

Some are heterotrophic (get energy from non-photosynthetic sources also). Great variation in size - unicellular and 3-10 µm (microns) to giant kelps up to 70 meters long and growing at up to 50 cm per day. Found in mostly aquatic situations (need water to reproduce and, generally, to photosynthesise).

Where are algae found? Algae are found just about everywhere on earth: in the sea, in our rivers and lakes, on soils and walls, in animals and plants (as symbionts - partners collaborating together); in fact just about everywhere where there is light with which to photosynthesise.


What are seaweeds?
Seaweeds are algae that liven in the sea or in brackish water. Scientists generally call them "benthic marine algae", which just means "attached algae that live in the sea". Seaweeds come in three basic colours: red, brown and green. Red and brown algae are almost exclusively marine, whilst green algae are also common in freshwater and in terrestrial situations.

Don't forget: Algae is the plural; Alga is the singular. There is no such thing as "algaes".

Answer 4

Algae are classified as plants, although they share many characteristics with monerans (fungus). It is that pesky green stuff that many hobbyists try to avoid. It may become slimy over time and will grow in fresh or marine water.

Answer 5

algae is a family of plant species that grows in the sea

Answer 6

n. pl. al·gae (-j)
Any of various chiefly aquatic, eukaryotic, photosynthetic organisms, ranging in size from single-celled forms to the giant kelp. Algae were once considered to be plants but are now classified separately because they lack true roots, stems, leaves, and embryos.


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[Latin, seaweed.]
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algal (lgl) adj.

Answer 7

it's that stubborn crap in my swimming pool.
i hate algae.

Answer 8

Sea weed.

Answer 9

a fungus