Flat-Tipped Forked Seaweed (Ahnfeltiopsis linearis)

Description: Flat-tipped forked seaweed is also known as flattened Ahnfelt’s seaweed. There are a few other species of Ahnfelt’s seaweed, like bushy Ahnfelt’s or loose Ahnfelt’s, but this species is recognizable by its flattened branching tips. The tips are a lighter red than the rest of the deeper maroon body but they also come in shades of brown. This seaweed is also more rigid than other leafier kinds of seaweed, and its rigidity has been compared to that of cartilage. Branches start from a crust-like base and can have up to 150 branches, being 18 cm tall!

Habitat: This species of red algae found along the Pacific Coast of North America from British Columbia to California. It is most often found in the mid to low intertidal on rocks that may or may not be covered in sand.

Tide Pool Tidbits:

• This seaweed is named after Swedish professor and botanist Nils Otto Ahnfelt. 

• Flat-tipped forked seaweed often gets buried by sand, even up to 90 cm deep, and can live this way for over six months.

• While it now belongs to the genus Ahnfeltiopsis, flat-tipped forked seaweed used to be part of the Gymnogongrus genus.

References: SeaLifeBase, Netarts Bay Today, The New Beachcomber’s Guide to the Pacific Northwest by J Duane Sept