Mainly multicellular and marine. Their green chlorophyll is masked by the brown pigment fucoxanthin so that they appear brownish. Carbohydrate reserves are in the form of laminarin.
The following taxa of this phylum occur in the region:
Phylum Phaeophyta (Brown algae)
Dictyota spp. (Y-branched algae)
Lobophora variegata (Encrusting fan-leaf alga)
Padina sanctae-crucis (Peacock alga)
Sargassum spp. (Gulfweeds)
Stypopodium zonale (Leafy flat-blade alga)
Turbinaria turbinata (Turbinweed)