Catenella caespitosa

Catenella caespitosa
Scientific classification
Clade:	Archaeplastida
Division:	Rhodophyta
Class:	Florideophyceae
Order:	Gigartinales
Family:	Caulacanthaceae
Genus:	Catenella
Species:	C. caespitosa
Binomial name
Catenella caespitosa (Withering) L.M.Irvine

Catenella caespitosa is a small red marine alga.

Description

This small alga grows to 20 mm high from a discoid holdfast and dark brown in colour. Very irregularly branched, creeping moss-like and terete. Branches easily seen to be constricted at intervals. Medulla, the inner cells, formed of thick-walled filaments and with a cortex of rows of elongated cells radially arranged compact cells.[1][2]

Habitat, ecology

Catanella caespitosa occurs in shaded sites on rock and around the holdfasts of the fucoids of the upper littoral.[3]

Distribution

Recorded around the British Isles, from Norway to the Mediterranean and further from the Indian and Pacific Oceans.[1]

Reproduction

The alga is monoecious, that is both male and female parts to be found on the same plant.[1] The spermatangia, the male gametes, and carposporophytes, the diploid phase, grouped together in sori. Tetrasporangia occur scattered towards the tips of the filaments of separate plants.[4]

References

1. Dixon, P.S. and Irvine, L.M. 1977 Seaweeds of the British Isles Volume 1 Rhodophyta Part 1 Introduction, Nemaliales, Gigartinales.
2. Campbell, A.C.1984. The Country Life Guide to the Seashore and Shallow Seas of Britain and Europe ISBN 0 600 34396 0
3. Lewis, J.R. 1964. The Ecology of Rocky Shores. p.161 The English Universities Press Ltd
4. Newton, L. 1931. A Handbook of British Seaweeds. British Museum