Marine macroalgae can accumulate metals from the surrounding waters. But their responses to metals, especially non-essential metals like cadmium, are not well known and require further investigation. Therefore, the effects of cadmium exposure on the physiology and biochemistry of Fucus serratus collected from metal-contaminated (Restronguet Point) and clean (Bantham Quay) habitats were investigated. Therefore F. serratus demonstrates strong cadmium tolerance to cadmium exposure resulting from the production of antioxidative enzymes, glutathione and phytochelatine.