Chondrus crispus
Stackhouse · speciesAt a glance
Sources14 archives
Databases and archives Chondrus crispus's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation14 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility29 550 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System25 073 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI514 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics247 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
dukesphytochemcompounds
FooDBThe Metabolomics Innovation Centrecompounds↗
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Chondrus crispus—commonly called Irish moss or carrageen moss (Irish carraigín, "little rock")—is a species of red algae which grows abundantly along the rocky parts of the Atlantic coast of Europe and North America. In its fresh condition this protist is soft and cartilaginous, varying in color from a greenish-yellow, through red, to a dark purple or purplish-brown. The principal constituent is a mucilaginous body, made of the polysaccharide carrageenan, which constitutes 55% of its dry weight. The organism also consists of nearly 10% dry weight protein and about 15% dry weight mineral matter, and is rich in iodine and sulfur. When softened in water it has a sea-like odour and because of the abundant cell wall polysaccharides it will form a jelly when boiled, containing from 20 to 100 times its weight of water.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Habitat & environment2
Uses & economy1
Compounds documented for Chondrus crispus across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile5 classes
Documented compounds1 690 total
| Compound | Class | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| CARBOHYDRATES | 862,000 ppm | DukesPhytochem | |
| WATER | 834,000 ppm | DukesPhytochem | |
| ASH | 150,000 ppm | DukesPhytochem | |
| PROTEIN | 123,000 ppm | DukesPhytochem | |
| FIBER | 111,000 ppm | DukesPhytochem | |
| SODIUM | 81,200 ppm | DukesPhytochem | |
| MAGNESIUM | 19,600 ppm | DukesPhytochem | |
| CALCIUM | 18,820 ppm | DukesPhytochem | |
| POTASSIUM | 13,310 ppm | DukesPhytochem | |
| FAT | 12,000 ppm | DukesPhytochem |
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Chondrus crispus has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
The complete instruction manual Chondrus crispus carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard periods (Jurassic, Cretaceous…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. The dashed rules marked ✦ are the five great mass extinctions. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type54 623 records
Origin
Range
Depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions40 of 81 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Durham, US | 2 424 |
| 730location not on record | 2 259 |
| Clocation not on record | 1 195 |
| Institut Francais pour l'Etude de la Merlocation not on record | 797 |
| 486location not on record | 515 |
| Acadia Universitylocation not on record | 378 |
| Bronx, US | 283 |
| DASSHlocation not on record | 264 |
| South Kensington, GB | 167 |
| PNHSlocation not on record | 164 |
| Chapel Hill, US | 146 |
| LDlocation not on record | 143 |
| Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschunglocation not on record | 102 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 99 |
| Tampa, US | 54 |
| KMNlocation not on record | 46 |
| CIBIOlocation not on record | 43 |
| Museum national d'Histoire naturellelocation not on record | 42 |
| New Haven, US | 39 |
| Madrid, ES | 39 |
| Burlington, US | 31 |
| Uppsala, SE | 29 |
| Durham, US | 28 |
| MeiseBGlocation not on record | 24 |
| Universidad de Oviedolocation not on record | 24 |
| TROMlocation not on record | 22 |
| University of Stellenboschlocation not on record | 20 |
| València, ES | 19 |
| PHlocation not on record | 18 |
| Barcelona, ES | 16 |
| Butler Universitylocation not on record | 16 |
| WTUlocation not on record | 14 |
| Tromsø, NO | 14 |
| National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korealocation not on record | 12 |
| Minia, EG | 11 |
| Trondheim, NO | 11 |
| Stockholm, SE | 10 |
| GRAlocation not on record | 10 |
| Champaign, US | 10 |
| Auckland, NZ | 9 |
| Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańlocation not on record | 9 |
| Vancouver, CA | 8 |
| Brown Universitylocation not on record | 7 |
| Davis, US | 7 |
| SLU Artdatabankenlocation not on record | 7 |
| Bourges, FR | 7 |
| Columbia, US | 6 |
| National Institute of Biological Resourceslocation not on record | 6 |
| Musée des Confluenceslocation not on record | 5 |
| Oskarshamn, SE | 5 |
| Corvallis, US | 4 |
| Honolulu, US | 4 |
| Severin-McDaniel Insect Collectionlocation not on record | 4 |
| BISHlocation not on record | 4 |
| McWane Science Centerlocation not on record | 4 |
| Albany, US | 4 |
| Cincinnati, US | 3 |
| Stockholm, SE | 3 |
| ISAlocation not on record | 3 |
| ARMS-MBONlocation not on record | 3 |
| US | 2 |
| 2 | |
| Fort Hayslocation not on record | 2 |
| Tilburg, NL | 1 |
| UFRRJlocation not on record | 1 |
| Citadel Hill, GB | 1 |
| Dresden, DE | 1 |
| FLASlocation not on record | 1 |
| Ypsilanti, US | 1 |
| Edmonton, CA | 1 |
| Granada, ES | 1 |
| College Park, US | 1 |
| Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record | 1 |
| MAlocation not on record | 1 |
| Los Angeles, US | 1 |
| Institut und Museum fuer Geologie und Palaeontologielocation not on record | 1 |
| Universidad de Málagalocation not on record | 1 |
| Senckenberg Institute for Plant Form and Function at Friedrich Schiller University Jenalocation not on record | 1 |
| V. N. Karazin National Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| nbflocation not on record | 1 |
| Arcata, US | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Chondrus crispus was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Measured at samplingin-field
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.