News Plants

Hard-shelled seaweed survives by its loose knees

Stringy joints between calcified algae’s segments don’t break easily under repeated stresses

Pacific seaweed

WHAT LIES BETWEEN A close-up of a Pacific seaweed shows the hard segments that survive in surf thanks to the fracture-resistant tissue connecting them.

Patrick Martone

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

To survive the thrashing of several million waves a year, a hard-bodied Pacific seaweed relies on special joints that work like loose bundles of strings.