Growth and pigment responses to different levels of solar radiation with or without ultraviolet (UV)-B component $({lambda}=280-315nm)$ were investigated in Antarctic rhodophytes, Kallymenia antarctica and Palmaria decipiens, collected around King George Island during the summer of 2000. In K. antarctica specific growth rate, based on thallus area or fresh weight, decreased with increasing solar irradiances while P. decipiens were relatively insensitive to the effects of light. It is noticeable that the presence or absence of UV-B had no significant effect on growth for either species. However, K. antarctica showed a more pronounced reduction in chlorophyll (Chl a) concentrations at higher irradiances in the presence of UV-B. In P. decipiens, Chl a concentrations did not differ despite radiation level fluctuations being lower albeit than initial measurements. Thallus thickness was greater in K. antarctica than in P. decipiens. There were higher relative amounts of UV-absorbing pigments (UVAPs) in P. decipiens than in K, antarctica. The single absorbance peak obtained from the methanol extracts was resolved into three (316,332 and 346nm) in K. antarctica and four peaks (315,326,333 and 349 nm) in Palmaria as a result of the fourth-derivative. After 7 days exposure to solar radiation, the amount of UVAPs in K. antarctica was significantly reduced to a similar degree at all light levels, whereas that of P. decipiens remained unchanged except at 5% of surface irradiance. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of purified extracts indicated that P. decipiens possesses porphyra-334 in addition to three other mycosporine-like anlino acids (MAAs; asterina-330, palythine, shinorine), which are commonly present in K. antarctica. Significantly lower tolerance of K. antarctica to high levels of solar radiation may be connected with its usual absence in the eulittoral, while the active growth and elastic pigment responses of P. decipiens over a wide range of solar irradiance levels up to full sunlight seems to correspond well with its wide vertical distribution from rock pools down to 25-30m.