Kingdom Eukaryota
Division Rhodophyta
Class Florideophyceae
Order Ceramiales
Family Ceramiaceae
Genus Griffithsia
Species pacifica

This species was first described by Harald Kylin in 1925. He collected the type specimen at 5-10 fathoms (9-18 m) off the shore of Turn Island, San Juan Islands, Washington. Kylin was a professor of botany at the University of Lund, Sweden and contributed a large number of publications on his investigations of red algae (1).

Trivia: Griffithsia pacifica was named after the British phycologist Amelia W. Griffiths.