BIOTIC

BIOTIC Species Information for Fucus distichus
All Taxonomy Biology Distribution Reproduction

Researched by	Nicola White	Data supplied by	MarLIN
Refereed by	Dr Graham Scott
Distribution and Habitat
Distribution in Britain & Ireland	Restricted to northern shores of Scotland and north and west Ireland.
Global distribution	Norway, northern Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, eastern North America from Labrador to Maine and the Pacific coast of America discontinuously from Alaska to California
Biogeographic range	Not researched	Depth range	Upper eulittoral
Migratory	Non-migratory / Resident
Distribution Additional Information	In Britain and Ireland, Fucus distichus has only been recorded attached to bedrock in the mid to upper eulittoral zone on exposed rocky shores in northern Scotland and Ireland. It is thought to be prevented from growing further south due to its poor tolerance of desiccation and inability to compete with plants growing further down the shore. However, on the east coast of North America, Fucus distichus is only found in rock pools and is incapable of growing on emergent rock surfaces in the mid to upper eulittoral.

Substratum preferences	Bedrock Large to very large boulders	Physiographic preferences	Open coast
Biological zone	Upper Eulittoral	Wave exposure	Extremely Exposed Very Exposed
Tidal stream strength/Water flow	Strong (3-6 kn) Moderately Strong (1-3 kn) Weak (<1 kn) Very Weak (negligible)	Salinity	Full (30-40 psu) Variable (18-40 psu)
Habitat Preferences Additional Information
Distribution References	Rice & Chapman, 1985, Ang, 1991, JNCC, 1999, Norton, 1985, Hardy & Guiry, 2003,