Seaweeds of the South African South Coast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Order Ectocarpales

Family Acinetosporaceae

Hincksia granulosa (Smith) P.C.Silva in Silva, Meñez & Moe 1987: 130

Plants forming low turf with other filamentous algae or epiphytic. Thallus 0.5-3 (-6) cm high, a tuft of branching uniseriate filaments with numerous discoid plastids in each cell. Growth apparently diffuse or with fairly indefinite meristematic regions. Axes profusely branched in up to 4 orders, each successive order narrower; all filaments tapering gradually. Fully elongated cells of primary axis barrel-shaped, almost isodiametric, to 50-60 µm in diameter and 70-80 µm long. Terminal filaments ca. 15 µm in diameter. Main branching usually opposite, later branching irregular or secund, laterals occasionally recurved. Proximal regions of main branches corticated by downward-growing rhizoids, forming an attachment to the substratum at their bases. Plurilocular sporangia sessile, rarely with a single-celled pedicel, on adaxial side of later order of branches; ovoid, generally symmetrical, upwardly curved, to ca. 90 µm long and 60 µm in diameter.

Collections, ecology and regional distribution

Rare, found in lower eulittoral turfs and on Pyura. Recorded from Oudekraal on the west coast of the Cape Peninsula to the Cape Vidal area of Kwazulu-Natal (16-56).

World distribution: Widespread in temperate waters all over the world (Guiry & Guiry 2011).

Type locality: Sussex, England (Silva et al. 1996).

 

Hincksia granulosa, profuse branching, opposite on main axes.

Hincksia granulosa, main axces with opposite branches.

Hincksia granulosa, ovoid plurilocular sporangium.

Hincksia granulosa, cortication of main branch by downgrowing rhizoids.

Hincksia granulosa, thallus apex (right); portions of fertile thalli with plurilocular sporangia (reproduced from Stegenga et al. 1997).

 

References Hincksia granulosa

Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 2011. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched September 2011.

Silva, P.C., Meñez, E.G. & Moe, R.L. (1987). Catalog of the benthic marine algae of the Philippines. Smithsonian Contributions to Marine Sciences 27: [i-ii] iii-iv, 1-179, 2 figs, 1 table. (H granulosa & mitchelliae)

Silva, P.C., Basson, P.W. & Moe, R.L. (1996). Catalogue of the benthic marine algae of the Indian Ocean. University of California Publications in Botany 79: 1-1259.

Stegenga, H., Bolton, J.J. and R. J. Anderson. 1997. Seaweeds of the South African west coast. Contributions from the Bolus Herbarium 18: 655 pp.

 

Cite this record as:

Anderson RJ, Stegenga H, Bolton JJ. 2016. Seaweeds of the South African South Coast.
World Wide Web electronic publication, University of Cape Town, http://southafrseaweeds.uct.ac.za; Accessed on 24 April 2024.