It is a tufted brown-black lichen, with tiny branches which look rather like seaweed.

Lichina pygmaea is associated with barnacles and the red Moss seaweed (Bostrichya arbuscula) on the upper to mid intertidal zones and copes with immersion in seawater. Its dense nature hides and supports a small animal community, such as the horn snail (Zeacumantus)

Uses the suns energy.

It was possibly introduced from Europe.
Most lichens are a symbiotic relationship between a fungus and an algae.

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