Big Seaweed Search

  • Image copyright © Big Seaweed Search

Whilst you are enjoying a stroll along the beach or rock pooling with the kids, why not take a few minutes to look a bit closer at the seaweed. The first thing you may notice is the array of different colours: reds, browns and greens and the many varied shapes.

The British Isles are perfect for seaweeds, they just love it here with over 650 species known to grow along UK coasts and shallow seas.

MCS and the Natural History Museum launched the Big Seaweed Search to encourage folk to observe and record seaweed species in their area. They would like you to download their leaflet which details the 14 species to look out for and then submit your records using the recording form or upload the data straight onto their website.

Currently, very little is known about the abundance and distribution of many of our seaweed species.

Click here to get involved in the Big Seaweed Search

The Big Seaweed Search was set up as a partnership project between the Natural History Museum and Marine Conservation Society.

Also, due to environmental issues such as:

  • ocean acidification (the sea becoming more acidic as a result of absorbing carbon dioxide from the air);
  • rising sea temperatures; and
  • the arrival and spread of non-native species

the seaweeds we are seeing around our coasts are changing so people’s records are more important than ever.