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Story: Seaweed

Wakame in soup

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Wakame in soup

First collected in Wellington Harbour in 1987, the Asian brown seaweed Undaria pinnatifida rapidly spread into harbours around the east coast of New Zealand, and scientists feared that it would oust native seaweeds. In East Asian countries the seaweed is known as wakame and is treated as a delicacy, usually added to miso soup.

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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

by Melanie Lovell-Smith

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How to cite this page

Maggy Wassilieff, Seaweed – Kelp, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/4598/wakame-in-soup (accessed 10 June 2026).

Story by Maggy Wassilieff, published 2 March 2009.