Appearance: Shimmering pale green in colour. The shoots are tube shaped, often filled with gas, not branched and look like intestines!
Depth: Upper shore.
Feeding: Gutweed is a producer. It makes its own food by photosynthesis. It has chlorophyll just like most land plants.
Environment: Gutweed grows on gravel, mud and rocky bottoms. At low tide, it tends to bend and float on the surface. It is quite common in rock pools, especially the ones high up on the shore that get splashed during storms. Gutweed is able to survive a wide range of salt concentrations.
Other facts: There are about 10 different types of Gutweed, and it can be very difficult to spot the differences between them.
Classification: Gutweed is a member of the protoctista group green algae.