Fucus

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iFucus

Fucus serratus

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Protista
Class:	Phaeophyceae
Order:	Fucales
Family:	Fucaceae
Genus:	Fucus L.

Species

See text

Fucus is a genus of brown alga (seaweed) that lives in the intertidal zones of rocky shores. A common species found on the Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America is Fucus vesiculosus or bladder wrack. On the Pacific coast of North America, the most common species is Fucus gardneri.

1 Description
2 Taxonomy
3 Ecology
4 Uses
5 Medical
6 References

[edit] Description

The thallus is perennial with an irregular or disc-shaped holdfast. The erect portion of the thallus is dichotomous or subpinnately branched, flattened and with a distinct midrib. Gas-filled pneumatocysts (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. The gametangia, develop in conceptacles embedded in receptacles in the apices of the final branches. They may be monoecious or dioecious.

Fucus distichus is the organism used as a model to study the development of cell polarity. F. distichus has many advantages for polarity studies. It forms an apolar zygote that can develop polarity given a varying number of gradients.

[edit] Taxonomy

This list of species of Fucus excludes names of uncertain status <ref>Guiry, M. D. (2006). AlgaeBase version 4.1: Fucus Linnaeus 1753: 1158. National University of Ireland, Galway. Retrieved on August 21, 2006.</ref>.

Fucus ceranoides L. *
Fucus chalonii Feldmann
Fucus cottonii M.J. Wynne & Magne *
Fucus distichus L. *
Fucus evanescens C.Agardh *
Fucus gardneri P.C. Silva
Fucus nereideus Lightfoot
Fucus serratus L. — toothed wrack *
Fucus spermophorus L.
Fucus spiralis L. *
Fucus tendo L.
Fucus vesiculosus L. — bladder wrack *
Fucus virsoides J. Agardh

* = Species recorded around the coast of Britain

[edit] Ecology

Fucus spiralis, Fucus vesiculosus and Fucus serratus along with Pelvetia canaliculata and Ascophyllum nodosum form zones on the shore of all but the most sheltered and exposed sites on the shores of the British Isles.

[edit] Uses

In Scotland and Norway in the 18^th and 19^th Centuries, the seaweed species Fucus vesiculosus, Fucus nodosus, Fucus serratus, and Fucus digitatus were harvested, burned, and processed to become "kelp," which was a type of soda ash. This kelp had an alkali content of about 2.5 - 5% that was mainly sodium carbonate. The seaweed was also used as fertilizer for crop land in the same areas in which it was harvested.<ref name="Clow52"> Clow, Archibald and Clow, Nan L. (1952). Chemical Revolution, (Ayer Co Pub, June 1952), pp. 65-90. ISBN 0836919092.</ref>

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.

[edit] Medical

In 2005, it was announced that bacteria grown on Fucus have the ability to attack and kill the MRSA superbug <ref>"Sponge puzzles superbug experts", BBC News, 26 December 2005.</ref>.