Inventory of Seaweeds in Selected Municipalities in the Balicuatro Area of the Province of Northern Samar, Philippines

Seaweeds or marine macroalgae is one of the marine resources that are understudied in the province of Northern Samar, the province have twenty-four (24) municipalities and twenty (20) of them have coastal zone which is ideal for marine researches as well as for aquaculture. This study is focused on the present seaweeds in the three (3) selected municipalities in Balicuatro area in the province of Northern Samar. A total of ninety-four (94) taxa were collected/ found in the three (3) sampling sites. Lavezares got the greatest number of seaweeds with sixty (60) taxa, followed by Biri with fourty-four (44), and the least was in Allen with thirty-four (34) species. Chlorophyta have thirty-nine (39) species which constitute for 39.36% of the total identified seaweeds, followed by thirty-four (34) red seaweeds (36.17%), and, lastly, Brown macroalgae with only twenty-three (23) species which accounts for 24.47%. The most common marine macroalgae in all sampling sites were: Hormophysa cuneiformis which was found in ten (10) sampling sites, followed by Halimeda macroloba, Ulva reticulata, and Sargassum oligocystum which were found in ten (10) sampling sites. In terms of environmental parameters, temperature and salinity of all sampling sites were tested to be within the normal range during the collection period based on established threshold limit. However, in terms of pH, it was detected that two (2) barangays/ sampling sites in Lavezares, namely: Balicuatro and San Juan which only had 7.2 and 7.4 which is below the threshold limit range of seawater pH which is 7.5-8.5. In terms of substrate, rocky substrate is common to all sampling sites which indicates that hard substratum is preferable for the growth, adaptation, and survival of seaweeds.