Fucus Vesiculosus - Ecology

Ecology

The species is especially common on sheltered shores from the middle littoral to lower intertidal levels. It is rare on exposed shores where any specimens may be short, stunted and without the air vesicles. F. vesiculosus supports few colonial organisms but provides a canopy and shelter for the tube worm Spirorbis spirorbis, herbivorous isopods, such as Idotea and surface grazing snails such as Littorina obtusata. Phlorotannins in Fucus vesiculosus act as chemical defences against the marine herbivorous snail Littorina littorea.

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