Halimeda micronesica Yamada

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus compact, c. 7 cm tall, drying white or pale blue-grey, with a dull surface, dichotomously to trichotomously branched; basal segment supporting numerous suprabasal segments, attached by rhizoidal filaments, these also occasionally from suprabasal segments, most segments cuneate to discoid, sometimes trilobed and ribbed, 4–7 mm long, 6–8 mm wide. Peripheral utricles rounded in surface view, in a calcified matrix, readily disassociating following decalcification, 30–50 µm diam. Medullary filaments 40–120 µm diam., tapering to the periphery, mostly unconstricted except for the basally constricted obovoid peripheral utricles. Nodal medullary filaments adhering slightly but not fusing.

Distribution. Widespread in the Indo-Pacific.

Habitat. Epilithic in the intertidal and subtidal.

[After Huisman & Verbruggen, Algae of Australia: Mar. Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 1. Green and Brown Algae 134 (2015)]