Researchers Discover 20 New Species of Sea Lettuce in the Baltic Sea Region

Source: The post is based on the article “Researchers Discover 20 New Species of Sea Lettuce in the Baltic Sea Region” published in ANI on 14th June 2023

What is the News?

Researchers have recently discovered 20 new species of Sea lettuce along the Baltic and Scandinavian coasts.

What is Sea Lettuce?

Sea Lettuce is a prominent species of green macroalgae. It belongs to the genus Ulva.

Sea Lettuce grows naturally all over the world. It grows in both littoral and sublittoral waters in depths of up to 75 meters, although it needs a lot of sunlight to flourish. 

It is perennial, and grows all year, although the largest blooms occur during the summer.

Sea lettuce usually grows attached by a small discoid holdfast to rocks and shells, but it can also grow in a free-floating, non-attached form, sometimes in prolific masses.

Large masses of sea lettuce are often an indicator of nutrient pollution in the water.

Sea Lettuce has a high protein content, advantageous polyunsaturated fatty acids, dietary fibers, and valuable biochemical components, making it particularly nutritive.

In some parts of the world, people eat sea lettuce in soups and salads.