The Biosphere Reserve of Sian Ka'an located in the Mexican Caribbean, where greatest diversity of seaweeds has been recorded. Despite of diversity and species richness there are limited phycological studies in the study area, suggesting that species diversity is not completely known. We reported species that complement previous reports of brown algae collected from the study area. In addition, brown algae recorded in the literature and the species present in the herbaria for the Biosphere Reserve of Sian Ka'an were also included, and data obtained from sampling at eleven localities during 2009 to 2012 were added. In all 50 infrageneric taxa are reported. Families Dictyotaceae and Sargassaceae comprised the most species richness. The presence of 11 species of Phaeophyceae is reported for the first time for the study area. Of them, Symphyocarpus strangulans is a new record for the Mexican Atlantic; eight species are new records for study area and two for Quintana Roo. The highest number of species was recorded for Punta Xoquem and Pulticub, while the lowest number of taxa was in Cayo Valencia. The highest number of species was found in summer rains, the lowest in winter rains. The obtained data highlights the high specific richness of Phaeophyceae indicating that the Sian Ka'an Reserve should be considered a priority area due to its great biodiversity. Moreover, these results will be a basis for future ecological, utilization and conservation studies.
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