Description: A dichotomously branched frond deviding three or four times, terete and firm, growing to 30 cms in length, from a branched holdfast. Dark brown almost black in colour.

Habitat: Common. Epilithic in lower littoral rock pools and into the sublittoral to 12 m. Tolerant of sand cover.

Distribution: Around the British Isles from he Shetland Islands to the Channel Islands. Europe: the Mediterranean, Spain, France, the Baltic, Norway, Sweden, Faroes and Iceland. Atlantic coast of North America: Canada. Further afield: Arctic Sea from Spitzbergen, the Murman Sea, the White Sea and Baffin Bay.

Similar Species: Polyides rotundus among the differences the most obvious is the holdfast which in Polyides is a crust and in Furcellaria branched. Polyides is not tolerant of sand cover.

Key Identification Features:

• Dichotomously branched, with a branching holdfast.

Distribution Map from NBN: Furcellaria lumbricalis at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Furcellaria lumbricalis at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

WoRMS: Furcellaria lumbricalis at World Register of Marine Species. Accepted name: Furcellaria lumbricalis (Hudson) J.V.Lamouroux, 1813. AphiaID: 145620.

Classification: Biota; Plantae; Biliphyta; Rhodophyta; Eurhodophytina; Florideophyceae; Rhodymeniophycidae; Gigartinales; Furcellariaceae; Furcellaria