''Laminaria pallida'', the split-fan kelp, is a species of large brown seaweed of the class Phaeophyceae found from Danger Point on the south coast of South Africa to Port Nolloth,

Tristan da Cunha Tristan da Cunha (), colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcano, volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the Extreme points of Earth, most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying approximately from Cape Town, Sou ...

and Gough islands in the Atlantic and

Île Saint-Paul Île Saint-Paul (Saint Paul Island) is an island forming part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (''Terres australes et antarctiques françaises'', TAAF) in the Indian Ocean, with an area of . The island is located about south of the la ...

in the Indian Ocean.

Description

The large

thallus Thallus (plural: thalli), from Latinized Greek (), meaning "a green shoot" or "twig", is the vegetative tissue of some organisms in diverse groups such as algae, fungi, some liverworts, lichens, and the Myxogastria. Many of these organisms ...

is up to 10m long, with a single smooth broad blade which splits into several parallel longitudinal straps. The holdfast is multiply branched, and the stipe is usually solid, fairly stiff, round in section and tapers gradually toward the blade. In specimens with hollow stipes the stipe narrows towards the base.

Distribution

Danger Point on the south coast of South Africa to Port Nolloth in Namibia, Tristan da Cunha and Gough islands in the Atlantic and St Paul Island in the Indian Oacean. Type locality:

Table Bay Table Bay (Afrikaans: ''Tafelbaai'') is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town (founded 1652 by Van Riebeeck) and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named b ...

, Cape Province, South Africa (Silva, Basson & Moe 1996: 641).

Ecology

Commonly found below a canopy of the Sea bamboo '' Ecklonia maxima'' down to 15 m, and replaces it in deeper water to 30 m The frond tips sweep the surrounding reef surface, reducing the numbers of animals that may eat sporelings.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q11262646 Laminariaceae