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Fucus is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of brown alga (seaweed
Seaweed

Seaweed is a loose colloquial term encompassing macroscopic, multicellular, benthos ocean algae. The term includes some members of the rhodophyta, phycophyta and green algae....
) in the Class Phaeophyceae to be found in the intertidal zones of rocky shores. It is a common genus found on the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
 coasts of Europe and North America.

thallus is perennial with an irregular or disc-shaped holdfast
Holdfast

A holdfast is a root-like structure that anchors aquatic animal Sessility organisms, such as seaweed, other sessile algae, stalked crinoids, benthic cnidarians, and sponges, to the substrate. ...
 or with haptera . The erect portion of the thallus is dichotomous or subpinnately branched, flattened and with a distinct midrib.






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Fucus is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of brown alga (seaweed
Seaweed

Seaweed is a loose colloquial term encompassing macroscopic, multicellular, benthos ocean algae. The term includes some members of the rhodophyta, phycophyta and green algae....
) in the Class Phaeophyceae to be found in the intertidal zones of rocky shores. It is a common genus found on the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
 coasts of Europe and North America.

Description and life cycle

The thallus is perennial with an irregular or disc-shaped holdfast
Holdfast

A holdfast is a root-like structure that anchors aquatic animal Sessility organisms, such as seaweed, other sessile algae, stalked crinoids, benthic cnidarians, and sponges, to the substrate. ...
 or with haptera . The erect portion of the thallus is dichotomous or subpinnately branched, flattened and with a distinct midrib. Gas-filled pneumatocyst
Pneumatocyst

In phytology, a pneumatocyst is a large float containing gas found in brown algae. An organism may have more than one. They provide buoyancy to lift the blades toward the surface, allowing them to receive more sunlight for photosynthesis....
s (air-vesicles) are present in pairs in some species, one on either side of the midrib. The erect portion of the thallus bears cryptostomata and caecostomata (sterile surface cavities). The base of the thallus is stipe-like due to abrasion of the tissue lateral to the midrib and it is attached to the rock by a holdfast
Holdfast

A holdfast is a root-like structure that anchors aquatic animal Sessility organisms, such as seaweed, other sessile algae, stalked crinoids, benthic cnidarians, and sponges, to the substrate. ...
. The gametangia
Gametangia

A gametangium is an Organ or cell in which gametes are produced that is found in many multicellular protists, algae, Fungus, and the gametophytes of plants....
 develop in conceptacles embedded in receptacles in the apices of the final branches. They may be monoecious or dioecious. 

These algae have a relatively simple life cycle and produce only one type of thallus which grows to a maximum size of 2 m. Fertile cavities, the conceptacles, containing the reproductive cells are immersed in the receptacles near the ends of the branches. After meiosis
Meiosis

In biology or life science, meiosis is a process of reductional division in which the number of chromosomes per cell is halved. In animals, meiosis always results in the formation of gametes, while in other organisms it can give rise to spores....
 oogonia and antheridia are produced and released, fertilization follows and the zygote
Zygote

A zygote is a cell that is the result of fertilization. That is, two ploidy cells—usually an ovum from a female and a sperm cell from a male—merge into a single ploidy cell called the zygote ....
 develops directly into the diploid plant. It may be considered to be analogous to the life cycle of the flowering plant.  but in algae the oogonia are released and fertilised in the sea while in flowering plant
Flowering plant

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of Embryophytes. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of Spermatophyte....
s the ovules are fertilised while attached to the parent plant and then released as a seed
Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
.

Distribution and ecology

Species of Fucus are recorded almost world-wide. They are dominant on the shores of the British Isles
British Isles

The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include Great Britain and Ireland, and numerous smaller islands....
 , the northeastern coast of North America  and California .

In the British Isles
British Isles

The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include Great Britain and Ireland, and numerous smaller islands....
 these larger brown algae occur on sheltered shores in fairly well defined zones along the shore from high water mark to below low water mark. On the more exposed shores not all of these species can be found and on very exposed shores few, if any, occur. Pelvetia canaliculata
Pelvetia canaliculata

Pelvetia canaliculata Dcne. et Thur. is a very common brown seaweed found on the rocks of the upper shores of Europe....
 forms a zone at the top of the shore. Just below this Fucus spiralis
Fucus spiralis

Fucus spiralis is a species of seaweed, a brown alga , living on the littoral shore of the Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America. It has the common names of spiral wrack and flat wrack....
, Fucus vesiculosus and Fucus serratus and Laminaria
Laminaria

Laminaria is a genus of 31 species of brown algae , all sharing the common name "kelp". This economically important genus is characterized by long, leathery laminae and relatively large size....
 form clear zones, one below the other, along the shore down to low water mark. On sheltered shores Ascophyllum nodosum usually forms a broad and dominating zone along the shore at the mid-littoral
Littoral

In coastal environments and biomes, the littoral zone extends from the high water mark, which is rarely inundated, to shoreline areas that are permanently submerged....
. On very exposed shores few if, any plants, of these species can be found. Other brown algae can be found at the low-littoral such as Himanthalia, Laminaria saxatilis and Alaria esculenta. Small green and red algae and animals occur protceted under these large brown algae .

Uses

In Scotland and Norway, up until the mid 19th century, several seaweed species from Fucus and other genera were harvested, dried, burned to ash, and further processed to become "kelp
Kelp

Kelp are large seaweed plants , belonging to the brown algae and classified in the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genus. Some species can be very long and form kelp forests....
", which was a type of soda ash that was less costly in Britain than the barilla
Barilla

Barilla S.p.A. is a major Italy food company. It was founded in 1877 in Parma, Italy. It controls Barilla, Mulino Bianco, Pavesi, Voiello and Academia Barilla , Wasabr?d , Misko , Filiz , Yemina and Vesta trade marks....
 imported from Spain. It has an alkali
Alkali

In chemistry, an alkali is a Base , Ionic compound salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal Chemical element. Alkalis are best known for being Base s that dissolve in water....
 content of about 2.5–5% that was mainly sodium carbonate
Sodium carbonate

Sodium carbonate , , is a sodium salt of carbonic acid. It most commonly occurs as a crystalline heptahydrate, which readily efflorescence to form a white powder, the monohydrate....
 (Na2CO3); alkali is essential to soapmaking, glassmaking, and other industries. The seaweed was also used as fertiliser for crop land in the same areas in which it was harvested Clow and Clow indicate four species of seaweed as sources for kelp: Fucus vesiculosus, Ascophyllum nodosum (formerly Fucus nodosus L.), Fucus serratus, and Laminaria digitata (Hudson) J.V. Lamouroux (formerly Fucus digitatus L.). The Fucus species names noted in this book as sources of kelp do not reflect modern taxonomy for these species, which has been updated using Algaebase. The purest barilla had a sodium carbonate concentration of about 30%.

It has been reported that to loosen dried earth a machine which sticks probes a meter into the ground and loosens the earth by blasting air in under pressure. Dried seaweed (bladderwrack) can then be injected into the fissures to hold the drainage cracks open .

In 2005, it was announced that bacteria
Bacteria

The Bacteria are a large group of unicellular microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals....
 grown on Fucus have the ability to attack and kill the MRSA superbug .

Taxonomy

This list of species of Fucus excludes names of uncertain status :
  • Fucus ceranoides L.
    Carolus Linnaeus

    Carl Linnaeus was a Sweden botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern alpha taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology....
    *
  • Fucus chalonii Feldmann
    Feldmann

    Feldmann is the name of:* Else Feldmann , Austrian writer and journalist* John Feldmann , American musician and producer, member of band Goldfinger...
  • Fucus cottonii M.J. Wynne & Magne
    Magne

    Magne may refer to:People* Magne , origin of and people with the Norwegian given name* Magne , origin of and people with the French surname...
     *(=Fucus cottonii M.J.Wynne & Magne nom. illeg.)
  • Fucus distichus L.
    Carolus Linnaeus

    Carl Linnaeus was a Sweden botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern alpha taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology....
     *
  • Fucus evanescens C.Agardh
    Carl Adolph Agardh

    Carl Adolph Agardh was a Sweden botanist specializing in algae, who was eventually appointed bishop of Karlstad.Agardh was appointed professor of botany and practical economy at Lund University in 1812, was ordained a clergyman in 1816 and received two parishes as prebend....
     *
  • Fucus gardneri P.C. Silva
  • Fucus nereideus Lightfoot
    John Lightfoot FRS

    The Reverend John Lightfoot was an England conchologist and botanist.Lightfoot was the chaplain and librarian of Margaret Bentinck, Duchess of Portland....
  • Fucus serratus
    Toothed wrack

    Fucus serratus is a seaweed of the north Atlantic Ocean, known as toothed wrack or serrated wrack.  It is olive?brown in colour and similar to bladder wrack and Fucus spiralis....
     L.
    Carolus Linnaeus

    Carl Linnaeus was a Sweden botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern alpha taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology....
     — toothed wrack *
  • Fucus spermophorus L.
    Carolus Linnaeus

    Carl Linnaeus was a Sweden botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern alpha taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology....
  • Fucus spiralis
    Fucus spiralis

    Fucus spiralis is a species of seaweed, a brown alga , living on the littoral shore of the Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America. It has the common names of spiral wrack and flat wrack....
     L.
    Carolus Linnaeus

    Carl Linnaeus was a Sweden botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern alpha taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology....
     *
  • Fucus tendo L.
    Carolus Linnaeus

    Carl Linnaeus was a Sweden botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern alpha taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology....
  • Fucus vesiculosus L.
    Carolus Linnaeus

    Carl Linnaeus was a Sweden botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern alpha taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology....
    — bladder wrack *
  • Fucus virsoides J. Agardh


* = Species recorded around the coast of Britain. 

Fucus distichus

F. distichus is up to 10 cm long with a short stout cylindrical stipe, branching dichotomous, flat and with a mid-rib . F. distichus subsp. edentatus was first described from Shetland Islands
Shetland Islands

Shetland is an archipelago in Scotland, off the northeast coast. The islands lie to the northeast of Orkney, from the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east....
 by Börgesen in 1903. Powell found F. distichus subsp. anceps on the north coast of Caithness
Caithness

Caithness is a registration county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland and historic Local government in Scotland of Scotland. The name was used also for the Earl of Caithness and the Caithness of the Parliament of the United Kingdom ....
. It had also been recorded from: Orkney Islands
Orkney Islands

Orkney is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated 10 miles north of the coast of Caithness. Orkney comprises over 70 islands; around 20 are inhabited....
, Fair Isle
Fair Isle

Fair Isle Scottish Gaelic Eileann nan Geansaidh is an island off Scotland, lying around halfway between Shetland and the Orkney Islands....
, St Kilda
St Kilda, Scotland

St Kilda is an isolated archipelago 64 kilometres west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains the western-most islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland....
 and the Outer Hebrides
Outer Hebrides

The Outer Hebrides, comprise an Archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. The local government area is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland....
 in Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
; in Ireland
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
 it had been recorded from Counties Clare
County Clare

County Clare commonly referred to as simply Clare, is a Counties of Ireland of Ireland and part of the wider Provinces of Ireland of Munster....
, Donegal
County Donegal

County Donegal is a county located in the west of the Province of Ulster, in the northwest of Ireland. It is one of three counties in the Province of Ulster that do not form part of Northern Ireland....
 and Kerry
County Kerry

County Kerry is a southwestern county in Republic of Ireland. Informally referred to as The Kingdom, it forms part of the provinces of Ireland of Munster....
 . Two subspecies of F. distichus (subsp. anceps and subsp. edentatus) have been described from the British Isles .

Fucus distichus is the organism used as a model to study the development of cell polarity, since it forms an apolar zygote that can develop polarity given a varying number of gradients.

Fucus serratus

F. serratus, toothed wrack, is the most distinctive of all the Fucus species. It clearly shows a distinctive serrated edge to the frond not shown by the other species of the genus .

Fucus spiralis

F. spiralis is one of the three most common algae on the shores of the British Isles. It grows to about 40 cm long and does not show air bladders or a toothed edge as is found on F.vesiculosus and F. serratus. It forms a zone near the top of the shore above the zones of F. vesiculosus and F. serratus.

Fucus vesiculosus

This is one of the most common species of Fucus, common on most shores in the mid-littoral. Readily identified by a distinct mid-rib and air vesicles in pairs on either side of the mid-rib .

See also

http://www.pznow.co.uk/marine/wrack.html