Is wakame the same as regular seaweed?

Question:

This may seem like a retarded question but is "wakame" the same thing as just straight up seaweed? I've been dealt some conflicting information.

I know "nori" in japanese means seaweed, so that would logically lead me to believe wakame means a particular type of seaweed or something else.

However, wikipedia says wakame is a type of SEAWEED DISH (a salad, more specifically).

Another site suggests it's the same thing.

Help please?

Answer:

Wakame (ワカメ) - An edible brown seaweed (Undaria pinnatifida, class Phaeophyceae) used, typically in dried form, in Chinese and Japanese cooking.

Nori (海苔) is the Japanese name for various edible seaweed species of the red alga Porphyra including most notably P. yezoensis and P. tenera, sometimes called laver.

They're both types of seaweed, but different varieties.

Another type is Hijiki (ヒジキ, 鹿尾菜 or 羊栖菜) which is also an edible brown seaweed (Sargassum fusiforme). Hijiki is sometimes labeled as nori.

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Compare it to tomatoes. You have cherry tomatoes, big beefsteak tomatoes for sandwiches and Roma/Plum tomatoes for sauces. Yep, they're all tomatoes. But they're still different.