Complimentary Blueberry Juice

You know how those conversations go: someone says what’s up, someone else says all they can think about is red algae! Since it came up in a presentation yesterday, let’s talk a bit about it.

We humans might be grossed out by the appearance of what appears to be slimy red stuff and think something might be wrong, or that it might be toxic or dangerous. On the other hand, red algae can be beautiful macro-structures in marine environments. We are so used to seeing green things, and green chloroplasts dominate our view of vegetative life. In the human-centric world we easily forget that all current life on earth comes from a long lineage of fascinating organisms that have shaped life on our delicate little planet for billions of years.

Red algae is one of those organisms. Some of the oldest fossil records of red algae is found here in Canada in our billion-year-old rocks. If you took in a lungful of earth’s atmosphere today you very likely inhaled some red algae spores.

When we see algae, red or green (or brown) we are seeing a window back into early photosynthetic evolutionary history. Algae is everywhere and one of the most successful and long-lasting diverse family of organisms.

Stay curious!

Graham