alga
nounUK, US /ˈæl.ɡə/
Etymology From Latin alga.
1
Biology, Natural sciences Any of many aquatic photosynthetic organisms, including the seaweeds, whose size ranges from a single cell to giant kelps and whose biochemistry and forms are very diverse, some being eukaryotic.
- For example, the antitumour depsipeptide kahalalide F was isolated from the opisthobranch mollusc Elysia rufescens, and is used by both the mollusc and its dietary alga Bryopsis spp.2016 January 21, “Choose Your Weaponry: Selective Storage of a Single Toxic Compound, Latrunculin A, by Closely Related Nudibranch Molluscs”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:
- Derived terms
- algacidal, algaculture, algin, algist, algoid, golden-brown alga, macroalga, picoalga
- Hyponyms
- seaweed, green alga and red alga in Plantae), brown alga and yellow-green alga, Haptophyta, and Cryptomonada in Chromista), and blue-green alga, microalga, golden alga, ice alga, snow alga