Have you ever gone to your favorite sushi spot and ordered a side seaweed salad made of wakame? While the connotation is that wakame refers to the intertdial species Undaria pinnatifida, the literal translation from Japanese is ‘seaweed’. An alga’s common name can vary by region and language while the scientific name is a global standard. These scientific or ‘Latin’ names can change over time as new discoveries appear; this was the case in the early 2000s with the leaps made in genetic sequencing technologies.
If you ever want to know the history of an alga’s Latin name, or know the common name in any part of the world, look no further. AlgaeBase.org is by far one of the best algae resources available to the public. On AlgaeBase you can look up common names of algae and find all names ever associated with it. You can also find other species information such as ecology, images, global distribution, and common uses. Each bit of information is linked to a vetted document, typically a peer-reviewed journal.
Take a minute and visit the site. Poke around and look up some of your favorite seaweeds, you might be surprised with what you find.