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Two species of seaweed discovered along India’s coastline

  • Posted By
    10Pointer
  • Categories
    Environment
  • Published
    30th Mar, 2021

Context

A group of marine botanists has traced new species of native seaweed along the coasts of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat and Daman Diu.

About the new species discovered

  • These species were found in the form of isolated patches in the intertidal regions of the sea.
  • Species and its place of discovery
    • Hypneaindica and HypneaBullata - Kanyakumari
    • Hypneaindica– Gujarat
    • HypneaBullata- Daman and Diu.
  • Potential use: Hypnea variants of seaweeds can have a good monetary benefit in the food industry as it contains Carrageenan which is a biomolecule commonly used in the food industry.
  • It can be a potential raw material for those involved in jelly and ice cream production.

Seaweed

  • Seaweed is a macro-algaethat is referred to as thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae.
    • The term seaweed includes some types of Rhodophyta, Phaeophyta, and Chlorophytamacroalgae also.
  • Significance: Seaweed species such as kelps provide essential habitats for fisheries and other marine species.
    • Some other types of seaweed such as planktonic algae play a vital role in capturing carbon and producing up to 90% of Earth's oxygen.

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