Dumontia contorta

Dumontia contorta
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Clade: Archaeplastida
Division: Rhodophyta
Class: Florideophyceae
Order: Gigartinales
Family: Dumontiaceae
Genus: Dumontia
Species:
D. contorta
Binomial name
Dumontia contorta

Dumontia contorta is a relatively small epiphytic algae of the sea-shore.

Description

The thallus grows from a discoid holdfast to a length of about 23 centimetres (9.1 in). The fronds branch irregularly and sparingly.[2] The branches are hollow, soft and twisted, dark reddish brown in colour which bleach towards the tips, they clearly taper at their junction.[1]

Reproduction

The plants are dioecious (sexes separate) with microscopic spermatangia, carposporangia, and tetrasporangia developing in the surface layer, cruciate.[1][3]

Habitat

Generally epilithic in rock pools of the littoral zone.[1]

Distribution

Common around the British Isles. Europe from Russia to Portugal and Canada to United States. In the NW Pacific and Alaska.[1][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Irvine, L.M. 1983. Seaweeds of the British Isles Volume 1 Rhodophyta. Part 2A. British Museum (Natural History) ISBN 0 565 00871 4
  2. ^ Jones, W.E. 1964. A key to the genera of the British seaweeds. Field Studies 1 no.4:1 - 32
  3. ^ Bunker,StP,P, Brodie, J.A., Maggs, C.A. and Bunker, A.R. 2017 Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland. Second Edition, Wild Nature Press, Plymouth, UK.ISBN 978-0-9955673-3-7
  4. ^ Morton, O. 2003. The marine macroalgae of County Donegal, Ireland. Bulletin of the Irish Biogeographical Society No. 27 pp.3 - 164