This is very striking wee seaweed, it is dark red often with an overlay of iridescent blue or green colour. It often appears as a tangled mat of cylindrical apparently segmented branches. Can grow to 40 mm.

This is a low tide weed usually found around the edges of low tide rock pools, however, it can also grow as an epiphyte on some of the big brown species of seaweed.

A producer using the sun's energy to photosynthesise

Photo Credit: Rod Morris. Photos available from www.rodmorris.co.nz