Eucheuma

Eucheuma
Eucheuma growing on a monoline.
Scientific classification
(unranked):	Archaeplastida
Division:	Rhodophyta
Class:	Florideophyceae
Order:	Gigartinales
Family:	Solieriaceae
Genus:	Eucheuma J.Agardh

Eucheuma, commonly known as sea moss or gusô (/ɡuˈsɔːʔ/), is a rhodophyte seaweed that may vary in color (purple, brown, and green). Eucheuma species are used in the production of carrageenan, an ingredient for cosmetics, food processing, and industrial manufacturing, as well as a food source for people in the Philippines, Caribbean and parts of Indonesia and Malaysia.^[1] Eucheuma cottonii – which grows in the Caribbean and cultivated in the Philippines – is the particular species known as gusô.^[2][3] Other species include Betaphycus gelatinae, Eucheuma denticulatum, and several species of the genus Kappaphycus, including K. alvarezii. Since the mid-1970s, Kappaphycus and Eucheuma have been a major source for the expansion of the carrageenan industry.^[1]

Commercial seaweed farming of gusô (as well as Kappaphycus) was pioneered in the Philippines.^[4][5][6] Though commercially significant, species of Eucheuma are difficult to identify without the aid of close scientific examination, as different species may have similar morphologies. Some eighteen to twenty species alone fall within the genus Eucheuma, represented by the groups Cottoniformia, Gelatiformia, and Anaxiferae.^[1]

Gusô is listed in the Ark of Taste international catalogue of endangered heritage foods of the Philippines by the Slow Food movement.^[7]