On our recent trip to the beach, we romped in the waves, caught hermit crabs, fished and hunted for shells and otherwise ignored the lowly seaweed all around us.
We DID notice that it brought in a good deal of jellyfish, their long tentacles entangled in it's twisty branches.We noticed too, on an early morning walk, that there was FAR more seaweed on the beach than we had seen during our other, later in the day, beach walks.
and we soon discovered why...
There are people that handle such things before most folks reach the beach.
(As an aside, I have to say, I don't think that it would be such a bad job to have.... waking up with the sun each morning, starting up my tractor and taking a long slow ride down the beach while the rest of the world stirred their coffee.)
It wasn't until we got home and began looking back on our photos, the notes that we had made, and the questions we had jotted down in our journals, that we began to seek out more information about that weedy gunk that washed up on our sandy shores.
Turns out there's a great deal to know and love about seaweed!
First, we learned that "seaweed" is a sort of loose term that covers about 18,000 species of marine algae, many with endearing common names like "Merman's Shaving Brush," "Mermaid's Hair," and "Sea Lettuce."
(the above is a glimpse at the Golden Guide to Seashore Life, linked below)
We learned that "OUR" seaweed is actually Sargassum, named for the Sargasso Sea where it originates.Those little "berries" that you see in the photo are not really berries at all, they are air bladders that help to keep this living plant afloat and adrift at sea.
This particular seaweed is notorious for floating in great masses in which several species of unique, found nowhere else, marine plants and animals live out their lives.
We learned that seaweed plays an important role for US too! Seaweed has long been a food source for those lucky souls that live near its source, but many of us land lubbers eat a great deal of seaweed too, whether we realize it or not! It's found in salad dressings, baked goods, dairy foods, desserts and sodas. It is used in dental molds, wound dressings and it may even help to alleviate arthritis, thyroid problems, intestinal worms and tumors. We use it in fertilizers, adhesives, explosives and more.
You can bet that we will be looking MUCH more closely at seaweed the next time our toes reach sand!
We have a new found appreciation for those sloppy piles of leafy goo that wash up on our shores. Knowing what we know now, it is so easy to find the beauty in the floating gardens that all too often go unnoticed.
(original mosaic and photo credits here)
For more information on seaweed, don't miss the Golden Guide to Seashore Life.
Another must read is The Seaweed Book and this sweet and inspiring article about its 100 year old author, Rose Treat. Mrs. Treat's amazing story and body of work has got us so fired up to add some seaweed to our herbarium!
-Stefani
