- Reference
- Algae of Australia: Marine Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 2. Red Algae 597 (2018)
- Conservation Code
- Not threatened
- Naturalised Status
- Native to Western Australia
- Name Status
- Current
Scientific Description
Habit and structure. Thallus filamentous, to 0.5 mm tall, with prostrate and erect axes. Prostrate axes spreading to 0.5 mm, with cells to 60–90 µm diam., attached by rhizoids. Erect axes subdichotomously to laterally branched, with a lateral branch on most cells of the relatively distinct primary axes, lacking a dense apical cluster. Lateral branches not overtopping the apices, pseudodichotomously branched, slightly curved, with elongate cells 12–25 µm diam.; distal cells 7–12 µm diam. Adventitious lateral branches absent.
Reproduction. Vegetative reproduction by bulbous propagules borne on stalk cells arising from the distal end of bearing cells, in axils. Stalk cells terete to trapezoidal, 30–50 µm long, 25–30 µm diam. Propagules 1-celled, ellipsoidal to obovoid, 100–145 µm long, 50–100 µm diam., starch-filled. Tetrasporangia borne singly on the distal ends of lateral branch cells, sessile, spherical, 60–65 µm diam. (including wall), tetrahedrally divided.
Distribution. Possibly widespread in the tropical Indo-Pacific.
Habitat. Growing on settlement panels in the subtidal.
[After J.M. Huisman in Algae of Australia: Marine Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 2. Red Algae: 597 (2018)]