Seaweed
Seaweed or macroalgae refers to several species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of red, brown, and green macroalgae. Marine algae species such as kelps provide essential nursery habitat for fisheries and other marine species and thus protect food sources; ocean algae species from seaweeds to planktons play a vital role in carbon capture, producing up to 90 percent of the planet's oxygen. Understanding these roles provides guiding principles for conservation and sustainable use of seaweeds to take precedence over industrial exploitation. Mechanical dredging of kelp, for instance, destroys the resource and dependent fisheries. Certain species of seaweed are valuable for nutrition, biomedicine, bioremediation, and other uses.
Laverbread
Laverbread () is a food product, made from an edible seaweed (littoral alga), consumed mainly in Wales as part of local traditional cuisine. The seaweed is commonly found around the west coast of Great Britain and east coast of Ireland along the Irish Sea, where it is known as slake. It is smooth in texture and forms delicate, sheetlike thalli, often clinging to rocks. The principal variety is porphyra ("Porphyra umbilicalis"). Porphyra (laver seaweed) is classified as red algae; it tends to be a brownish colour, but boils down to a dark green pulp when prepared. Laver seaweed has a high content of dietary minerals, particularly iodine and iron. The high iodine content gives the seaweed a distinctive flavour in common with olives and oysters.