Codium arenicola Chacana & P.C.Silva

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus consisting of 1–several erect fronds attached by a plexus of sand-binding rhizoidal filaments. Holdfast to 3 cm diam. Fronds light green, to 40 cm tall, regularly dichotomously branched. Branching congested at the frond base, sparse distally, resulting in long terminal internodes that are terete or slightly flattened and 6–10 mm wide. Nodes flattened, cuneate, to 2 cm wide. Utricles produced individually by enlargement of interutricular filaments, stoutly clavate to muffin-shaped, (500–) 600–780 (–800) µm long, (180–) 200–250 (–330) µm diam., with truncate or depressed apices, the apical wall thin. Hairs (or hair scars) common in a 80–100 µm zone below the utricle apex. Medullary filaments 30–50 µm diam. Gametangia lanceolate-ovoid, 120–190 µm long, 60–80 µm diam., borne in a zone 100–150 µm below the apex.

Distribution. Indo-West Pacific (Mauritius, Thailand, Indonesia, New Caledonia, the Philippines, Japan and northern W.A.).

Habitat. Known from sandy bottoms at moderate depths.

[After Silva & Chacana, Algae of Australia: Mar. Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 1. Green and Brown Algae 107 (2015)]