Dilsea carnosa (Schmidel) Kuntze

Description: Thallus a broad oval frond arising from a discoid holdfast the short stipe expanding into a thick flat frond up to 50 cms long and 10 cms or so broad. Leatherly and deep blood red in colour, older fronds often split down to the stipe.

Habitat: Common. Epilithic in deep rock pools of the low littoral into the sublittoral to depths of more than 35 m.

Distribution: Around the British Isles including the Shetlands and the Channel Islands. Europe: Portugal, Spain, France, the Baltic, Norway, Spitzbergen and Iceland.

Similar Species: Palmaria palmata, the edible "Dulse" is vaguely similar, however Dilsea is much more leatherly and less branched.

Key Identification Features:

• Leatherly nature and deep red colour of the frond.

Distribution Map from BioMar data for Ireland - Google Earth map:  download this placemark (not got Google Earth installed?)

Distribution Map from NBN: JNCC MNCR Seasearch data - Grid map : Interactive map : National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.