Huge algae. The most unusual algae. Jellyfish Lake in Palau

Among plants, algae growing in rivers, oceans, lakes and seas occupy a special place. They are considered lower plants, however, their significance for humans has not yet been fully understood. After all, if it were possible to implement some promising projects for growing certain types of algae at the bottom of the oceans and seas, then the problem of a shortage of food and organic fuel would simply not be. Therefore, algae should be treated as a promising source of human well-being.

Among these plants, there are species colored in green, brown, blue-green, red, golden color. From a cognitive point of view, perhaps the most interesting are the longest algae, since they are most effective, however, from the point of view of practical application, it is most often the nondescript plants that most effectively solve the tasks assigned to the species.

In this regard, I want to pay attention to the longest algae growing in the ocean. Its length, according to rough calculations, is 100 meters. This is a giant Pacific algae, which, in addition, is simultaneously the fastest growing - 45 cm / day.

Along the coast of the United States, located on the side of the Pacific Ocean, brown algae grows, which with even greater right can be called "the longest". Its name is Macrjcystis pyrifera, and it reaches a length of 200 meters.

Finally, a review of the longest algae will be incomplete without mentioning the largest algae, Macricystis, which reaches a mass of 150 kg with a length of 60 meters. These algae are typically found in temperate seas. They are already a source of alginic acids and artificial fiber.

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Algae are a special part of the plant world. The peculiarity in the habitat is mainly algae, belonging to lower plants, live in the water. In the usual sense, they have no root, stem, leaves, but they have a body (thallus), consisting of either one cell or a group of multicellular organisms. Aquatic plants live in large, and not very large, bodies of water, and among them there are the most unusual specimens that are surprising in their size and structural features.

The diverse world of algae

Plants living on Earth play an important role in the life of the planet - they absorb carbon dioxide, are a source of nutrition for humans and wildlife. Algae also consume carbon dioxide, processing it into oxygen, they feed on the animal world of water bodies and humans.

Some species can only be found on the sea or ocean floor, some only in fresh water, some we will see, and some we may not notice. Among the variety of algae there are very unusual and interesting species that cause genuine interest in their uniqueness.

In the Japanese lake Mivant, the Icelandic volcanic lake Akan, in the Tasman and Black Sea there are unusual algae in form - moss balls.

They are spherical formations of bright green color of small sizes (diameter 12-30cm). Sometimes their size is very small - it is affected by the temperature of the water.

Reference! The ball is formed by thin long strands of plants growing from the center in all directions.

Those who are engaged in scuba diving noted that at the bottom of the sea, algae-balls look like something alien and fantastic - it is so unusual to see such a shape at great depths. Sometimes in bad weather, ball algae throws on the coast and then they can be admired by everyone, not just lovers of underwater landscapes.

Cowlerpa belongs to unicellular organisms, although this cannot be said in appearance - it looks like a bizarre, impressive size plant with prototypes of stems, roots and leaves. There is an explanation for this discrepancy - there is only one cell, and there are several nuclei, moreover, the cytoplasm can freely move through the body, devoid of partitions.

Kaulerpa algae is called an invading plant, because it quickly occupies the water area, populates it and interferes with the growth and development of other plants.

On a note! The growth rate of algae is up to 1 cm per day, and the length of some species reaches 2.8 m.

In 1984, an unusual alga from the aquarium fell into the waters of the Mediterranean Sea near Monaco, quickly adapted to new conditions, and 10 years later it occupied a large area of \u200b\u200b30 km². The taste of the algae is bitter, the fish do not like it, so they prefer to eat other varieties. So nothing prevents Cowlerpa’s reproduction. But its presence is harmful to the population of some species of fish - they simply cease to live in these places.

Near the coast of California and on the Australian coast (New South Wales) in 2000, Cowlerpa was discovered and urgently engaged in its destruction with chlorine - otherwise the seaweed could capture a large territory. In California, it was forbidden to use even in aquariums.

The algae invader has a dangerous enemy for it, but it lives only in warm waters - this is the tropical marine slug Elysia subornata. Cowlerpa juice is great for him to feed, and the slug causes considerable damage to the Cowlerpa thickets. To combat dangerous algae, it is quite possible to use it where the conditions for it are acceptable.

The presence of a large amount of brown pigment in the plant - fucoxanthin - gave the name algae. An unusual color algae lives in many seas and oceans, and several species exist even in fresh water.

On the territory of the oceans adjacent to the mainland, one of the longest algae grows at great depths - 40-60 m, and in temperate and polar regions, the habitat depth is less than 6-15 m.

Features of brown algae:

fastens to stones and rocks, and in the depths, where the waters are calm, it can grow on mollusk shells;
can live in salt marshes;
the size of the thallus varies from 1 micron to 40-60m;
the thallus can be in the form of vertically directed or creeping threads, plates, crusts, bags, bushes;
to keep upright on the thallus there are air bubbles;
macrocystis algae, the representative of the longest algae in the world (grows up to 60 m), forms underwater forests in the coastal ocean waters of America;
propagated by vegetative, asexual and sexual means;
used as a low-calorie food rich in proteins, carbohydrates, minerals;
serves as a raw material for some drugs and various industries (textile, biotechnological, food);
is the basis of food seasoning monosodium glutamate.

Sargasso algae (sargassum, sargassum, sea grapes) belong to the genus brown algae and are amazing in their features and properties. The birthplace of culture is the region of Japan, China, Korea, but at the moment it has populated the waters of the Pacific coast of the North American continent and Western Europe.

On a note! A distinctive feature of the alga is the presence of float bubbles and a characteristic brown-yellow or brown-olive color of the serrated leaves up to 2 cm long.

Features of Sargassum:

long algae lives (length reaches 2-10m) at a depth of 2-3m, but there are species at a greater depth - it depends on the habitat;
usually attached to stones, rocks, but can swim;
the necessary conditions for the existence of algae are salt water (7-34 ppm) and a temperature of 10 ° -30 ° C;
male and female genital organs are present;
a plant up to 2m in height produces (on average) about 1bn embryos;
embryos can adhere to various surfaces, be in free swimming for up to 3 months and form colonies far from their native place;
in the Sargasso Sea inhabits a species without genitals, forming a thick, shapeless mass on the surface;
algae colonies, having come off, can migrate and harm fishermen, small vessels, fauna and flora of the reservoir, crowding out local plants;
fast breeding rates may crowd out other algae species;
the benefits of algae - 9 species of mushrooms, 52 species of algae, about 80 species of marine organisms live in the habitat of the algae.

Macrocystis is the largest and longest algae

Macrocystis belongs to the genus of brown algae, characterized by the large size of its representatives. The place of growth is the oceanic waters of the Southern Hemisphere with a temperature of 20 ° С.

The leaf plates are long (up to 1 m) and wide (up to 20 cm), with an air bubble at the base, attached to a long trunk, and he, in turn, tightly fastens to the soil, rocks, stones with the help of rhizoids (something like roots) at a depth of 20-30m. The appearance of the algae resembles a kite with a long tail, humbled by flags.

Interesting! There are some discrepancies regarding the macrocyst length, but nevertheless, the majority converges at a length of 60-213 m. The thallus has a considerable weight of 150 kg, and this fact does not cause disputes.

In the water column, the stem rises, and at the surface it spreads along the direction of the sea current. Air bubbles at the base of the leaves help to stay afloat.

Vast thickets of macrocysts near the coasts are able to suppress strong waves, since it is impossible to tear off the plant from the mount, therefore algae began to be grown artificially. In addition, they serve as raw materials for the extraction of alginate, which is necessary in many industries.

The largest marine plant - oceanic Posidonia

Found the largest and longest sea grass Posidonia in 2006 in Mediterranean waters near the Balearic Islands. Why the longest? The answer is striking and surprising - its length has reached 8,000 m!

Important! Quite often, Posidonia is called “algae,” but the plant does not belong to algae - it is a perennial plant that is completely in the water, and, unlike algae, has roots, stem, leaves, seeds and fruits.

The name of the Greek god Poseidon (the ruler of the seas) formed the basis for the name of the herbaceous sea plant Posidonia, apparently due to its large size and some features:

forms large thickets (colonies) at depths of up to 50 m - they are sometimes called green meadows;
the plant has very powerful creeping roots;
at great depths the leaves are wider and longer than at shallow;
sheet length reaches 15-50 cm, and width - 6-10 mm;
in some cases, it is specially grown to replenish the plant world in certain marine areas.

Red algae (scarlet) - marine plants that have existed on Earth for about 1 billion years. A distinctive feature of unusual algae is the ability to use blue and green rays penetrating to great depths for photosynthesis. This property is due to the presence of a special substance phycoerythin.

Red algae chloroplasts contain green chlorophyll, red phycoerythrins, blue phycobillins and yellow carotenoids. When mixing substances with chlorophyll, various shades of red are obtained. The presence of these components makes possible the existence of algae at great depths (100-500 m).

Interesting fact! In the water column, algae, absorbing the light of the sun, appear black, but on land we see them red!

Some types of scarlet contain large amounts of magnesium and calcium carbonate and are able to form a skeleton of a special composition, so scarlet is a part of coral reefs.

Red algae serve as raw materials in the production of a natural substitute for agar-agar gelatin, are used in cosmetology and pharmacology, they fertilize the soil and feed livestock.

In the plant world, amazing and unusual plants are found that feed on similar or small living organisms. They are called predator plants. There are such among algae.

The unicellular organism Pfiesteria piscicida is able to eat as a plant and as an animal: it can attack a living organism and at the same time uses the photosynthesis process to obtain nutrients. Therefore, it is considered algae.

Interesting Facts:

unusual predator algae killed a large number of fish in the waters of the eastern coast of the United States - each individual destroys 7-10 hemoglobin cells in the blood of fish, multiplies rapidly;
in the “infected” seawater, a drop of 1 ml 3 contains up to 20,000 killer algae cells;
scars and ulcers appear on the skin of a person after contact with algae;
algae contains poison that can kill not only fish, but also the human brain.

The list of the most unusual algae does not end there. It can be continued, replenishing information about the plant world with new interesting facts.

Brown algae, whose length reaches 200 m, lives on the Pacific coast of America. Its pseudostem is attached to the seabed at a depth of 2 to 40 m. On the surface, flat formations resemble moving leaves. Often, these algae form whole floating islands. There are about 1,500 species in total.

Brown algae is currently considered a class in the Heterokontophyta department. These marine plants are often striking in their gigantic size, variety of shapes, and complexity of structure. Most brown algae live in coastal waters, attaching to rocks and rocks, to other algae. All species of this class are multicellular. There are no free-living flagellates among brown algae. Flagella are present only in reproductive cells. The morphological and anatomical structure of the thallus (algae body) is very diverse, from microscopic single-strands to the enormous size of parenchymal forms several meters in length, with a high level of differentiation of the thallus, as in laminaria.

Like all representatives of the department, brown algae cells have chlorophyll “a” and “c” and do not have chlorophyll “b”. Chloroplasts are disc-shaped, golden brown, since chlorophyll is masked by an additional pigment - the carotenoid fucoxanthin. This pigment in combination with tannins gives the plants of this group a characteristic brown color. The main reserve substance is chrysolamine, mannitol (sugar alcohol) and fats are also found. Mannitol also regulates the penetration of substances through cell membranes (osmosis).

On the coast of the Barents Sea, brown algae is the dominant group both in the number of species and in the biomass formed. This group determines the appearance of the coastal vegetation of the northern seas. On the littoral (part of the seabed, exposed at low tide) on the rocks and rocks settle, sometimes in significant quantities, Fucus. These are large algae - Ascophyllum nodosum, Fucus vesiculosus, F. distichus, F. serratus with a powerful thallus, which often contains air bubbles or air cavities that help plants to rise and take up a vertical position during high tide. Dry at low tide bubbles snap underfoot. In the puddles between the fucoids and on the fucoids themselves, various filamentous brown algae - Pilayella litoralis, Dictyosiphon foeniculaceus, Chordaria flagelliformis, and many others can settle. The upper part of the sublittoral zone in the northern seas of Russia is populated by large brown algae - kelp. Powerful thickets on rocks and stones along the Murmansk coast form Laminaria saccharina, L. digitata, L. hyperbora, Alaria esculenta. In the bays, the most characteristic representative of the sublittoral belt of algae is Laminaria saccharina.

Fucoids and kelp are being fished in the Barents and White Seas to produce alginate, mannitol and a number of other substances. Seaweed (Laminaria saccharina) is eaten in many countries.

Brown algae contains amino acids (lysine, methionine, tryptophan, arginine, tyrosine, serine, threonine, histidine, phenylalanine, cystine, leucine, isoleucine, valine); vitamins A, P, group B; trace elements (calcium, iodine, iron, copper, magnesium, manganese, zinc, sulfur, sodium, potassium, etc.).

Brown algae when eaten slows the development of atherosclerosis and lowers blood cholesterol. A large number of polysaccharides in brown algae has the property of swelling and, increasing in volume, irritate the nerve endings of the intestinal mucosa, which stimulates its peristalsis and helps to cleanse. Polysaccharides also bind toxins and remove them from the body, and brown algae - heavy metal salts and radionuclides.

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THE LONGEST SEA ALGAE - BROWN ALGAE

Fucoids and kelp are being fished in the Barents and White Seas to produce alginate, mannitol and a number of other substances. Seaweed (Laminaria saccharina) is eaten in many countries.

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The new concept of renowned designer Mike Thompson from the Netherlands is an environmentally friendly energy source. There are more and more ideas in the world aimed at obtaining clean energy. So a team of scientists from Stanford University and Yansei University from South Korea were able to get electricity through photosynthesis of algae. In the course of their research, 30-nanometer electrodes were implanted into chloroplasts - photosynthetic cell elements of seaweed.

The concept proposed by Thompson is a small, transparent reservoir in which algae are placed. All that is needed for their vital activities is sunlight, carbon dioxide and water. In order to ensure these conditions, the lamp is filled with water and hung out in the sun. In turn, the CO2 necessary for the life of algae is exhaled by the user - for this, a special hole is provided in its design.

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The longest algae and everything about them

the longest algae and everything about them

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The find was made by an international scientific group from the Spanish University of Mediterranean Studies, which studies the marine flora in the region. As experts have established, the age of this specimen of Posidonia reaches about 100 thousand years, and it enters a huge colony of this plant, whose area is about 700 kilometers, ITAR-TASS reports.

“Perhaps the news that the discovered Posidonia is the largest plant on Earth will draw public attention to environmental issues and make a difference.” - say scientists.

The longest algae

Among these plants, there are species colored in green, brown, blue-green, red, golden color. From a cognitive point of view, perhaps the most interesting are the longest algae. since they are most effective, however, from the point of view of practical application, it is most often the nondescript plants that most effectively solve the tasks assigned to the species.

The range of sizes of algae is huge: from unicellular to the longest and largest. An example of a single-celled alga is Cowlerpa, whose size reaches half a meter. However, this plant is one giant cell. The modern agricultural sector of most countries emphasizes productive varieties of vegetables. fruits and cereals. On a smaller scale, at the level of an ordinary amateur gardener, the same emphasis can be observed on personal vegetable gardens and gardens. However, agriculture of the future is hardly possible without the cultivation and processing of algae, capable of showing much greater productivity than traditional plants.

Along the US coast, located on the side of the Pacific Ocean, brown algae grows, which with even greater right can be called the longest. Its name is Macrjcystis pyrifera, and it reaches a length of 200 meters.

The longest algae is this one.

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Navarkh Enlightened 8 years ago

Posidonia, the length of its stems stretch for about 8 kilometers

Madrid, May 30 - Near the Balearic Islands at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, the largest plant in the world was found. It is an aquatic plant of Posidonium, whose stems stretch for about 8 kilometers.

adriks2006 The Thinker 8 years ago

Personal Account Deleted Expert 8 years ago

Biologists have discovered the world's longest algae. Its length is 8 km

Near the Balearic Islands at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea the largest plant in the world was found. The stalks of the record-breaking algae extend about 8 kilometers. The find was made by an international scientific group from the Spanish University of Mediterranean Studies, which studies the marine flora in the region.

We are talking about an aquatic plant Posidonia, whose stems extend about 8 kilometers, ITAR-TASS reported with reference to local media.

Recently, colonies of Posidonia, which is considered one of the oldest plants on the planet and is an integral part of the local ecosystem, began to decline due to the deteriorating natural situation.

Perhaps the news that the discovered Posidonia is the largest plant on Earth will draw public attention to environmental problems and change the situation, scientists say.

Related questions

The longest alga in the world

Near the Balearic Islands at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, the largest plant in the world was found. The stalks of the record-breaking algae extend about eight kilometers.

The find was made by an international scientific group from the Spanish University for the Study of the Mediterranean Sea, engaged in the study of marine flora in the region. We are talking about an aquatic plant Posidonia, whose stems extend about eight kilometers, ITAR-TASS reported with reference to local media.

As experts have established, the age of this specimen of Posidonia reaches about 100 thousand years, and it enters a huge colony of this plant, whose area is about 700 kilometers.

Perhaps the news that the discovered Posidonia is the largest plant on Earth will draw public attention to environmental problems and change the situation, scientists say.