Description: Very small tufts, erect just visible to the naked eye, growing from a monostromatic base. Filaments erect, to about 0.4 mm long, sparingly branched, pinnate or secund.

Habitat: Epiphytic on various algae in the upper sublittoral.

Distribution: Recorded from scattered sites around the British Isles. Europe: Spain, France, Netherlands, Denmark, Baltic Sea, Sweden, Norway, Faroes and Iceland. Atlantic coast of North America: Canada, Maine and New Hampshire. Further afield: the Canary Islands.

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

iNaturalist: Protectocarpus speciosus at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

WoRMS: Protectocarpus speciosus at World Register of Marine Species. Accepted name: Protectocarpus speciosus (Børgesen) Kornmann, 1955. AphiaID: 144986.

Classification: Biota; Chromista; Harosa; Heterokonta; Ochrophyta; Phaeophyceae; Fucophycidae; Ectocarpales; Chordariaceae; Protectocarpus