- Reference
- Nereis Bor.-Amer. II:111 (1853)
- Conservation Code
- Not threatened
- Naturalised Status
- Native to Western Australia
- Name Status
- Current
Scientific Description
Habit and structure. Thallus erect, to 6 cm tall, deep red to slightly purple, growing from a small holdfast, generally with 1 or 2 mostly percurrent terete primary axes 1.5–2.0 mm diam., these irregularly to secundly laterally branched. Lateral branches arising from apices and also mid-portions of bearing branches, 0.5–1.5 mm diam., constricted at the base (occasionally appearing stalked) and curved inwards, with blunt apices. Structure pseudoparenchymatous, with a medulla of large hyaline cells 100–140 µm diam. grading abruptly to a cortex of 2 or 3 layers of smaller pigmented cells. Epidermal cells angular in surface view, 10–20 µm diam. Hair cells common.
Reproduction. Cystocarps c. 0.5 mm diam. Tetrasporangia in the outer cortex, cruciately divided.
Distribution. Widespread in warmer seas.
Habitat. epilithic in shallow water.
[After J.M. Huisman in Algae of Australia: Marine Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 2. Red Algae: 348–350 (2018)]
Distribution
- IBRA Regions
- Dampierland, Swan Coastal Plain.
- IBRA Subregions
- Perth, Pindanland.
- IMCRA Regions
- Central West Coast, Leeuwin-Naturaliste, Pilbara (offshore).
- Local Government Areas (LGAs)
- Ashburton, Broome, Cockburn, Irwin, Rockingham, Wanneroo.