Investigation of Grateloupia on floating raft in Nan'ao, Shantou of Guangdong Province and Dongshan of Fujian Province

In order to promote the development and utilization of Grateloupia and provide reference for its food and processing, we investigated the species composition, biomass, growth environment and mouthfeel of Grateloupia on floating rafts in Nan'ao, Shantou, Guangdong Province and Dongshan, Fujian Province once a month from January to April 2018. The results show that the water velocity and temperature were 0.039−0.985 m·s^–1 and 19−23 ℃, respectively, and the water velocity in Dongshan was greater than that in Nan'ao. By morphology, cross-section and rbcL sequence analyses of the samples collected from the floating raft, we found eight Grateloupia species (G.lanceolata, G. turuturu, G.taiwanensis, G.carnosa, G.livida, G. haimensis, G. prolongata and G. sparsa). The dominant species were G. lanceolata and G. turuturu whose highest biomass were 901.26 g·m^–1 and 352.9 g·m^–1, respectively. G. lanceolata that grew with higher water velocity had longer body length that could reach 142 cm. The mouthfeel of G. turuturu and G. prolongata was the worst but that of G. lanceolata and G. livida was the best. G. lanceolata and G. livida had better mouthfeel in January to March than in April. It is worth developing G. lanceolata as marine vegetable for its bigger biomass,  size and its better mouthfeel.