Ecomare

one-celled algae	green seaweeds	brown seaweeds
Phaeocystis diatoms Noctiluca more...	ulva gutweed more...	japanese sargussum bladder wrack more...
red seaweeds	vaucheria
Irish moss Gracilaria verrucosa more...	vaucheria

Ask someone what seaweed smells like, and they will probably say 'fish'. However, it is really the other way around. Fish eat algae and seaweed and therefore smell like the food they eat. These plants are by far the most important vegetation in the sea. All seaweeds are technically algae, but most people refer to the multi-celled algae as seaweed and the one-celled plants as algae. The group consists of a large number of species with diverse and sometimes extremely complex reproductive strategies. Algae is very important because it produces a large percentage of the oxygen in our atmosphere and in the water. Seaweed is capable of binding heavy metals and is being tested for use in areas heavily polluted with this material.