Phycocalidia – Species Splash

Saan niyo nagaGAMET ang Phycocalidia?

Harvested in the wild and sold as gamét or Philippine nori is Phycocalidia, a genus of tropical red seaweed. This genus was initially described and named as Calidia and later renamed by Filipino phycologist Dr. Wilfred John Santiañez and Dr. Michael Wynne, and has now been officially reinstated!

This comes after the publication of Li et al. (2025), which provided strong phylogenomic evidence to split the genus Pyropia into four distinct genera. As a result, all Pyropia species in the Philippines are now transferred back to Phycocalidia.

The renaming of Phycocalidia was originally proposed by Santiañez and Wynne in 2020. The name comes from the Greek phykos, meaning seaweed, and the Latin calida, meaning warm. This is inspired by the tropical distribution of most species in the genus.

Referred to as “black gold,” gamét is pressed and dried into a disc called pedazo, which is Spanish for “piece,” by Filipino fisherfolk. Dried gamét is used in soups and egg omelettes, while fresh gamét is usually eaten in salads. These species are only found on the rocky coasts of northern Philippines, such as in Ilocos Norte, Cagayan, and Batanes.

Read the proposal for the recognition of Phycocalidia (2020).

Read the publication of Li et al. (2025): doi.org/10.1080/09670262.2025.2493837