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Chylocladia verticillata

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Chylocladia verticillata
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Clade: Archaeplastida
Division: Rhodophyta
Class: Florideophyceae
Order: Rhodymeniales
Family: Champiaceae
Genus: Chylocladia
Species:
C. verticillata
Binomial name
Chylocladia verticillata
(Lightfoot) Bliding

Chylocladia verticillata is a medium-sized red marine alga.

Description

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Chylocladia verticillata is a marine alga which grows erect to a length of 30 cm from a disk-shaped holdfast. It branches in a whorled manner the thallus is hollow and shows constrictions at intervals, it is mucilaginous, gelatinous, and up to 5 mm broad. In colour it is pinkish or purple. The structure is multiaxial.[1][2]

Habitat

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Epilithic or epiphytic in the lower littoral in rock pools and in the sublittoral.[1] Commonly found in the Laminarian zone.[3]

Reproduction

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This alga is dioecious, cystocarps occur between April and October and tetraspores between May and September.[1] The male structures are arranged around the constrictions. The sporangia are visible in the tissue of the younger branches.[4]

Distribution

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Found around the shares of the British Isles but more rarely on the eastern shores. Also recorded from Norway to Morocco into the Mediterranean including the Canary Isles,[1] also from the Channel Islands.[4]

Similar species

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Champia parvula is not common but small specimens of Chylocladia verticillata may appear similar.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Irvine, L.M.1983. Seaweeds of the British Isles Volume 1 Rhodophyta Part 2A Cryptonemiales (sensu stricto), Palmariales, Rhodomeniales. British Museum (Natural History) ISBN 0565008714
  2. ^ Newton, L. 1931. A handbook of the British Seaweeds. British Museum London.
  3. ^ Lewis, J.R. 1964. The Ecology of Rocky Shores. The English Universities Press Ltd.
  4. ^ a b c Bunker, F.StP.D., Maggs, C.A., Bunker, A.R. 2017. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland, Second Edition, Wild Nature Press Plymouth. UK. ISBN 978-0-99556733-7