Thallus laminate, yellowish to dark brown, generally to 3 m long; hold fast large, hollow and covered in smooth warts; thus "Sea Hedgehog") when mature, giving rise to a flattened oar-like stipe with beautifully symmetrical frilly "wings" with a single twist at the base. Stipe forming a single digitate fronds with irregularly lacinate "digits", these are dotted with groups of hairs.
Habitat:
Lower intertidal and shallow sub tidal. Generally filling in "holes" in shallow-water
Distribution:
Widely distributed in Britain, Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal. South to the Canary Islands, Morocco, Ghana and Mauritania.
Key characteristics:
Hedgehog-like base (absent in very young plants), flattened oar-like stipe with frilly edges at base. A flattened stipe of this kind is not found in any other kelp.
Laminaria digitata forests. This is an annual kelp, essentially an opportunist that colonises any vacant space in the forest, but cannot compete with the dominant species.
