Species profile
Ornate Turbanweed
Turbinaria ornata
At a glance
Ornate Turbanweed (Turbinaria ornata) is a marine alga with specific harvest rules tracked in 1 of 66 jurisdictions covered by CatchRules.
Confirmed by 568 research-grade iNaturalist observations, concentrated in Hawaii.
Notable details
- It is a brown alga with distinctive funnel- or cup-shaped fronds found on Indo-Pacific reefs.
- Dense stands of this alga shelter small reef fish and invertebrates from predators.
- It is among the dominant algae on reef flats in Hawaii and throughout the tropical Pacific.
- Its tough fronds resist strong wave action, letting it thrive in high-energy reef environments.
- It belongs to family Sargassaceae, making it a relative of the free-floating Sargassum weed.
Where Ornate Turbanweed are seen
Background
Turbinaria ornata is a tropical brown algae of the order Fucales native to coral reef ecosystems of the South Pacific. Turbinaria ornata is more commonly referred to as crowded sea bells in the US and crowned sea bells worldwide. It can quickly colonize these ecosystems due in part to its method of dispersing by detaching older and more buoyant fronds that travel on surface currents, sometimes in…
Background excerpt adapted from Wikipedia's Ornate Turbanweed article (CC BY-SA). Visit Wikipedia for the full entry.
Other brown algae/kelps on CatchRules
Photo credit: iNaturalist / Wikipedia. Identification reference only — verify regulations with the issuing wildlife agency before retaining a catch.