''Silvetia'' is a genus of

brown algae Brown algae (singular: alga), comprising the class Phaeophyceae, are a large group of multicellular algae, including many seaweeds located in colder waters within the Northern Hemisphere. Brown algae are the major seaweeds of the temperate and po ...

, commonly known as rockweed, found in the

intertidal zone The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species o ...

of rocky seashores of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. These were originally classified as members of the genus ''

Pelvetia ''Pelvetia canaliculata'', the channelled wrack, is a very common brown alga (Phaeophyceae) found on the rocks of the upper shores of Europe. It is the only species remaining in the monotypic genus ''Pelvetia''. In 1999, the other members of this ...

''. In 1999, ''Silvetia sp.'' was created as a separate species from ''Pelvetia canaliculata'' due to differences of oogonium structure and of nucleic acid sequences of the rDNA. It was renamed in honor of

Paul Silva Paul Claude Silva (October 31, 1922 – June 12, 2014) was a phycologist, marine biologist, and algal taxonomist considered to be the world's leading expert in the chlorophyte green algal genus '' Codium''. Silva was also an expert in botanical ...

, Curator of Algae at the Herbarium of the University of California, Berkeley. There are three species and one subspecies.

Taxonomy

This list of species of ''Silvetia'' contains those considered to belong to this genus as of 2013: *'' Silvetia babingtonii'' (Harvey, 1860) (E.Serrão, T.O.Cho, S.M.Boo & Brawley, 1999) *''

Silvetia compressa ''Silvetia'' is a genus of brown algae, commonly known as rockweed, found in the intertidal zone of rocky seashores of the Pacific Ocean. These were originally classified as members of the genus ''Pelvetia''. In 1999, ''Silvetia sp.'' was created ...

'' (J.Agardh, 1848)(E.Serrão, T.O.Cho, S.M.Boo & Brawley, 1999) **''Silvetia compressa deliquescens'' (Abbott and Hollenberg, 1976) *'' Silvetia siliquosa'' (Tseng & C. F. Chang, 1953) (E.Serrão, T.O.Cho, S.M.Boo & Brawley, 1999)

Taxonomy

References

Further reading