| 释义 |
maerl, n.
Brit. |ˈmɑːəːl|, |mɛːl|, U.S. |ˈmɑərl|, |mɛrl|
Forms: 19– maerl, 19– maërl
[‹ French maërl (1874; 1860 as merl) or its etymon Breton maerl, merl > n.1]
The remains of calcareous red seaweeds (coralline rhodophytes), esp. those occurring in deposits off the coast of Brittany, used as a source of lime by farmers; any of these seaweeds, belonging chiefly to the genus Lithothamnion.
1911Encycl. Brit. XIX. 975/1 Sand may be taken..with a large admixture of remains of calcareous organisms, for instance the deposits of maërl made up of nullipores off the coasts of Brittany and near Belle Isle. 1950V. J. Chapman Seaweeds & their Uses vi. 148 These particular red seaweeds belong principally to the genus Lithothamnion... They are used on the French coast where they are known as ‘maerl’. 1988E. Wood et al. Sea Life Brit. & Ireland 150 There are places around Ireland where free-living nodules of pink coralline algae called maerl cover the soft seabed. 1998Scotland's Nat. Heritage No. 12. 22/2 Among the underwater habitats of note were kelp forests, submarine meadows of seagrass and beds of maerl (an unattached stony seaweed which is found in areas of high current). |