Seaweeds of Canada

What’s the problem?

Ahoy! Beachcombers, beachgoers, and beach bums rejoice! Have we got a challenge for you!

When you’re admiring the crazy things you find by the sea why not contribute to biodiversity data and learn about the seaweeds you find along the way. All you need to do is take photos of the seaweeds you find and upload them to iNaturalist to learn all about their crazy forms, functions, and life history.

Join the iNaturalist project!

Tips and Tricks

Try to get the best photos you can of as many structures as you can. There are seaweed identification resources like books (e.g. Pacific Seaweeds: A Guide to Common Seaweeds of the West Coast), apps (e.g. https://seaweedsorter.com/), and websites (e.g. https://www.centralcoastbiodiversity.org/seaweeds-algae-and-seagrasses.html) that have a ton of great information about what to look for and what you should try to take pictures of… apart from that, the iNaturalist Computer Vision (AI) is getting better and better so check those recommendations as well.

Best Finds

We all love Bull Kelp and Knotted Wrack but we hope you’ll also love observing some of the other underreported species you can find in coastal Canadian waters. Here are some neat finds to start you on your seaweed safari treasure hunt:

  • Dead Man’s Fingers (Codium fragile)
  • The Five Ribbed Kelp (Costaria costata)
  • Sea Cauliflower (Leathesia marina)
  • The Winged Kelp (Alaria marginata) *bonus points if your specimen has ‘wings’ at the base (sporophylls)
  • Mermaid’s Tresses (Chorda filum)
  • Red Eyelet Silk (Sparlingia pertusa)
  • Mazzaella japonica which is an invasive species in British Columbia

Who created this challenge?

This challenge was created by a team of ecologists, graduate students, and community scientists. The Blitz-the-Gap umbrella project seeks to increase the number of iNaturalist observations that can be used for science and conservation, and is supported by: Canadian Wildlife Federation, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, Canada Key Biodiversity Areas, Campus Biodiversity Network, University of British Columbia’s Data4Nature cluster, McGill University, and the Canadian Institute for Ecology and Evolution, including the Living Data Project. The working group is led by Laura Pollock, Diane Srivastava, Katherine Hébert, David Hunt, Sandra Emry from McGill University and University of British Columbia.

This particular challenge was designed by Sandra Emry, Nathan Earley, and Bridgette Clarkston. Sandra (@sea_hugger) is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbia and the Living Data Project, and studies the effects of heat waves and other disturbances on marine ecology. Nathan (@earley_bird) is a PhD student at the University of Victoria where he studies species occurrence data and underreported species. Bridgette (@bclarkston) is an Associate Professor of Teaching at the University of British Columbia and the author of Pacific Seaweeds: A Guide to Common Seaweeds of the West Coast.