Seafood vs. Seaweed

Main Difference

The main difference between Seafood and Seaweed is that the Seafood is a food from the sea, e.g. fish, shrimp, crab, mussel, seaweed and Seaweed is a various types of algae

• Seafood

  Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans. Seafood prominently includes fish and shellfish.

  Shellfish include various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Historically, sea mammals such as whales and dolphins have been consumed as food, though that happens to a lesser extent in modern times. Edible sea plants, such as some seaweeds and microalgae, are widely eaten as seafood around the world, especially in Asia (see the category of sea vegetables). In North America, although not generally in the United Kingdom, the term “seafood” is extended to fresh water organisms eaten by humans, so all edible aquatic life may be referred to as seafood. For the sake of completeness, this article includes all edible aquatic life.

  The harvesting of wild seafood is usually known as fishing or hunting, and the cultivation and farming of seafood is known as aquaculture, or fish farming in the case of fish. Seafood is often distinguished from meat, although it is still animal and is excluded in a vegetarian diet. Seafood is an important source of protein in many diets around the world, especially in coastal areas.

  Most of the seafood harvest is consumed by humans, but a significant proportion is used as fish food to farm other fish or rear farm animals. Some seafoods (kelp) are used as food for other plants (fertilizer). In these ways, seafoods are indirectly used to produce further food for human consumption. Products, such as oil and spirulina tablets, are also extracted from seafoods. Some seafood is fed to aquarium fish, or used to feed domestic pets, such as cats. A small proportion is used in medicine, or is used industrially for non-food purposes (leather).

• Seaweed

  Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to several species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of Rhodophyta (red), Phaeophyta (brown) and Chlorophyta (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as kelps provide essential nursery habitat for fisheries and other marine species and thus protect food sources; other species, such as planktonic algae, play a vital role in capturing carbon, producing up to 90 percent of earth’s oxygen. Understanding these roles offers principles for conservation and sustainable use. Mechanical dredging of kelp, for instance, destroys the resource and dependent fisheries.

  Seaweed are a source of biologically active compounds including proteins and polysaccharides with promising uses in nutrition, biomedicine, bioremediation and other uses.