Description: Growing to 30 cms long, erect and rather rigid. Branching in one plane, distichous, long and short branches alternate; feather-like.

Habitat: Common. Epiphytic on Laminaria hyperborea from low littoral to 10 m or more deep.

Distribution: Generally of northerly distribution. Widely distributed around the British Isles, all around Ireland and Scotland including the Shetlands, south to Anglesey, the coast of Yorkshire and the Isle of Man. Europe: Baltic Sea, Norway, Faroes and Iceland. Further afield: Arctic Sea: Spitzbergen, Murman Sea to the White Sea and Baffin Bay.

Similar Species: Plumaria plumosa

Key Identification Features:

• Similar to Plumaria plumosa but rigid and more robust.

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

iNaturalist: Ptilota gunneri at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

WoRMS: Ptilota gunneri at World Register of Marine Species. Accepted name: Ptilota gunneri P.C.Silva, Maggs & L.M.Irvine, 1993. AphiaID: 144686.

Classification: Biota; Plantae; Biliphyta; Rhodophyta; Eurhodophytina; Florideophyceae; Rhodymeniophycidae; Ceramiales; Wrangeliaceae; Ptiloteae; Ptilota