Grows to a maximum length of 2 m. The whole frond is brown and consists of a distinct midrib with wavy membranous lamina up to 7 cm wide on either side.

The stipe is continued into the frond forming a long conspicuous midrib, all other large and unbranched brown algae to be found in the British Isles are without a mid-rib.

[8][9] It has a fairly high intrinsic growth rate compared to other algae, 5.5% per day and a carrying capacity of about 2 kg wet weight per square meter.

[2] A. esculenta may produce phlorotannins and oxidized lipids as protective functions against high photosynthetically active and UV radiations.

[14] Europe: Atlantic France, Channel Islands, Britain, Ireland, Netherlands, Heligoland, Baltic, Iceland, Faroes, Norway and Svalbard; North America: New York, New England, Maritime Provinces, Newfoundland, Quebec, Labrador, Alaska, Canadian Arctic and Greenland; Asia: Japan, Korea, Kuriles, Sakhalin and Kamchatka.