- Reference
- Algae of Australia: Marine Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 2. Red Algae 416 (2018)
- Conservation Code
- Not threatened
- Naturalised Status
- Native to Western Australia
- Name Status
- Current
Scientific Description
Habit and structure. Thallus red, with prostrate and erect axes to 4 mm long, attached by rhizoids arising from periaxial cells of lower axes. Erect axes subalternately branched every 8–10 cells in primary axes and every 12–16 cells in lateral axes; apices straight to curved, not circinate. Periaxial cells 5 (–6), each producing basipetally a transversely aligned cell that subsequently cuts off 1 or 2 cells by oblique divisions from the upper or lower corners, and acropetally 2 or 3 cells obliquely that overlap the periaxial cell slightly and subsequently cut off an additional pair of cells. Mature nodes to 5 or 6 cells long. Distal nodes commonly with distal whorls of elongate hair cells.
Reproduction. Tetrasporangia 1–3 per node, involucrate, spherical, 60–70 µm diam. (including wall), tetrahedrally divided but often appearing decussate.
Distribution. Known from Mauritius, French Polynesia and the Rowley Shoals, probably widespread in the Indo-Pacific.
Habitat. Epiphytic in the subtidal.
[After J.M. Huisman in Algae of Australia: Marine Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 2. Red Algae: 416 (2018)]