CATDOLL : CATDOLL: How long can kelp live? What is the longest life span of kelp?

1. How long can kelp live? What is the longest life span of kelp?

Kelp is the largest seaweed in the world. Mature individuals can reach up to 500 meters in length. The algae is brown and perennial, with a lifespan of up to 12 years.

2. What is the longest organism?

The longest creature is the blue whale.

The blue whale (scientific name: Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder Baleen whales. There are four subspecies. The blue whale is considered to be the largest animal known to have ever lived on Earth, with a length of up to 33 meters and a weight of 181 tons. The blue whale has a slender body and a bluish-gray back, but sometimes the color appears lighter in the water.

The blue whale is not only the largest whale, but also the largest animal in existence, and the largest mammal to date. It is generally 2200-3300 cm long and weighs 150,000-180,000 kg, which means that its weight is equivalent to more than 25 African elephants, or the combined weight of 2000-3000 people. Fortunately, due to the buoyancy of the ocean, it does not need to support its weight as strenuously as terrestrial animals, and its huge body also helps to maintain a constant body temperature. The entire body of the blue whale is light blue or mouse-gray, with light-colored fine spots on the back, white spots on the chest, more than 20 folds, and a belly covered with folds that extend to the navel and have ochre-colored yellow spots. Females have cleavages on both sides of the genital opening, with slender nipples inside. The head is relatively small and flat, with two blowholes located on the top of the head, a wide snout, a large mouth, no teeth in the mouth, a wide upper jaw, convex upward in an arc shape, with black whiskers, up to 300-400 on each side, 90-110 cm long and 50-60 cm wide. A lot of wax accumulates in the eardrum every year, and its age can be judged by the thickness of the wax. There is also a white callus on its upper jaw, which used to be the place where hair grew. Later, the hair degenerated, leaving a wart-like growth, which became a breeding ground for parasites. Since this callus is different in each individual, it is like wearing a "hat" of different shapes, so different individuals can be distinguished based on this. The dorsal fin is particularly short, less than 1.5% of the body length, and the flippers are not too long, about 4 meters, with 4 toes, and there is no wavy notch on the rear edge. The tail is wide and flat. Its entire body is streamlined and looks like a razor, so it is also called "razor whale".

The margin is straight. There are 55-88 sting grooves, the longest of which reaches the navel. There are 270-395 whiskers on each side. The back of the body is dark gray-blue, the ventral side is slightly lighter, and the mouth and whiskers are black.

The blue whale is different from other species of whales. Other species are short and stocky, while the blue whale has a long vertebral body that looks like it is stretched. The head is flat and U-shaped, with a distinct ridge from the upper lip to the back blowhole. The front of the mouth is densely packed with baleen plates. About 300 baleen plates (about 1 meter long) hang from the upper jaw and extend about half a meter into the mouth. 60-90 grooves (called ventral folds) run parallel to the body along the throat. These folds are used to expel seawater after swallowing a large amount of food.

The dorsal fin of a blue whale is small and only visible briefly during a dive. The shape of the dorsal fin varies from individual to individual; some have only a barely visible ridge, while others are very prominent and sickle-shaped. The dorsal fin is located about three-quarters of the length of the body. When surfacing to breathe, the blue whale raises its shoulder and blowhole area out of the water to a much greater extent than other large whales (such as fin whales and bream whales). This is often a useful clue for identifying marine species. When breathing, if the sea is calm, the blue whale spits out a spectacular vertical column of water (up to 12 meters, usually 9 meters) that can be seen from thousands of meters away. The blue whale has a lung capacity of 5,000 liters.

The longest kelp is more than 500 meters long

3. What is the mucus in kelp?

It is an organic compound called mannitol, which is harmless to the body. It has the effects of lowering blood pressure, diuresis and reducing swelling. Kelp needs to be boiled in water before it can be used to make cold dishes, because there are some pollutants in kelp, but everything else is fine.

Mannitol is an isomer of sorbitol. The hydroxyl groups on the carbon atom No. 2 of the two alcohols face different directions. Its molecular formula is C6H14O6 and its molecular weight is 182.17. It is easily soluble in water and is a white, transparent solid with a sweet taste similar to sucrose.

Additional information

Kelp is a large marine brown algae plant that grows in low-temperature seawater. It belongs to the seaweed plant, Laminaria japonica, Phaeophyceae, Laminariaceae. The spore body is large, brown, flat and ribbon-shaped, and can be up to 20 meters long. It is divided into blades, stalks and holdfasts, and the holdfasts are rhizoid-shaped. The blades are composed of epidermis, cortex and medullary tissues, and there are spore capsules at the bottom of the blades. It has a mucus cavity that can secrete slippery substances. The holdfasts are tree-like branches used to attach to the rocks on the seabed. It grows in the sea with relatively low water temperature.

It is cultivated in large quantities along the coast of northern China and the coasts of Zhejiang and Fujian, and its output ranks first in the world. It is rich in alginate and iodine, and can be eaten and used as industrial raw materials for extracting iodine, alginate, mannitol, etc. Its thallus can be used as medicine.

Kelp is native to Northeast Asia, including the Pacific coast of Russia, Japan and the northern coast of North Korea. Later, it grew in the oceans along the Liaodong Peninsula and Shandong coast of China. Today, China is the world's largest producer of kelp. Kelp spores are divided into three parts: the holdfast, the stalk and the band. The growth period in the natural environment is two years, and the cultivation period in the plant environment is 2 years.

Growth environment

Due to the influence of factors such as temperature difference and light from north to south, the growth and maturity period of kelp varies. The kelp in the same sea area or on the same seedling rope also matures at different times. Therefore, the harvest period lasts from mid-May to early July.

The growth of kelp is mainly affected by temperature and light, and the nitrogen content in seawater also affects the growth and yield of kelp. In addition, tides, wind and waves also have a great impact on the growth of kelp.

Growth area

Kelp is a cold-water seaweed. In my country, naturally grown kelp only appears in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea north of Qingdao. The sea area where kelp grows requires smooth water flow, fertile water quality and high safety factor.

Growth temperature

The suitable growth temperature of kelp is 1-13℃, 15-20℃ is the optimum temperature for the development of kelp sporophyte. 5-10℃ is the optimum temperature for the growth of sporophyte. The growth of male and female gametophytes is fastest at 15℃ and slowest at 5℃.

Nutrient salt

Nitrogen and phosphorus play an important role in the growth and development of kelp gametophytes and sporophytes. If the gametophyte lacks nitrogen fertilizer, it will grow slowly, and if it lacks phosphorus fertilizer, it will develop poorly. Iron has a great influence on the growth of sporophytes, so a certain amount of iron fertilizer should be added during the seedling stage.

Light intensity

Zoospores can be released under strong light, weak light and dark conditions, and embryospores can germinate under dark to 400 lux light. The suitable light intensity for gametophyte is 1000-3000 lux, but it is usually controlled at 800-1500 lux in production. The optimal light intensity for young sporophyte (5-10mm) of kelp is 2000-3000 lux, and the light intensity for thin and tender stage is about 10000 lux.

That is an organic compound that people are not familiar with - "mannitol". It is a precious medicinal substance. Modern scientific research has proved that mannitol has the effects of lowering blood pressure, diuresis and reducing swelling. Kelp contains eicosapentaenoic acid, which is an unsaturated fatty acid. Japanese scientists have found in a survey among fishermen that this substance can reduce the viscosity of blood and reduce the possibility of vascular sclerosis. Therefore, eating kelp can also prevent cardiovascular diseases. The iodoacetic acid and mannitol in kelp are both soluble in water. If the dried kelp is soaked in water for more than a few hours, the iodoacetic acid will lose about 90%, and most of the mannitol will be dissolved, which may reduce the nutritional value of the kelp. Therefore, the time for soaking dried kelp in water should not be too long. Generally, you only need to gently wash off some fine sand particles when washing kelp. The mucus on the kelp after soaking is very nutritious and does not need to be washed off.

Good stuff, don't wash it off.

Personally, I think too much mucus is not good and it makes kelp taste bad. Normal kelp should not have too much mucus, otherwise it will affect the taste and quality of the soup. The dried kelp I bought before was also like this. There was a lot of mucus, and the kelp leaves were easy to rot. Later, I changed to a supermarket and bought dried kelp with very little mucus. There were bubbles on the surface of the kelp, and it tasted better when boiled into soup.