Abstract
Four morphologically-different populations based on the blade shape of Ecklonia stolonifera Okamura were found from the small island of Nakanoshima, Dozen, Oki Islands, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. There are a very similar in shape to Ecklonia kurome Okamura but the shoot has a short and oblong central blade with well developed lateral pinnate bladelets, a slender central blade with slender lateral pinnate bladelets, a round central blade with short lateral pinnate bladelets and a long stipe and bigger blade with a dentate margin and lack of lateral bladelets. Evaluation and principal component analysis of the four different blade shape population was made based on the size and characteristics of various parts of the blade. However, these four morphologically-different populations were not distinguished by the results of the molecular analysis of the ITS-1. We concluded that the each population is a different four blade types strain.
