Seaweeds of the South African South Coast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Order Bryopsidales

Family Bryopsidaceae

Bryopsis pusilla Levring 1938: 11-13

Plants green, forming dense turf up to about 1 cm tall; entangled basal system of horizontal rhizoids giving rise to usually unbranched erect siphons 0.4 – 1 cm high and 250-400 µm thick; branching rare, distichous, branchlets up to 1.5 mm long, 90-160 µm thick, all branchlets reaching beyond apex of main siphon to impart brush-like appearance.

Collections, ecology and regional distribution

Recorded from Port Elizabeth to northern KZN (36-58) but may be distributed further westward, as several specimens tentatively identified as B. pusilla have been collected from False Bay and Cape Agulhas (BOL). Found in the lower eulittoral, generally in sand-binding turfs. Levring (1938) records that it occurs in a short Corallina turf. 

Worldwide distribution: also found in Mozambique (Silva et al. 1996).

Type locality: Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape (Silva et al. 1996).

Note: Levring (1938) distinguishes this from other Bryopsis species on the basis of its smallness and growth form with a well-developed and interwoven horizontal system of rhizoids.

 

Bryopsis pusilla, Arniston

Bryopsis pusilla, with some fine filaments of a Chaetomorpha sp.

 

References Bryopsis pusilla

Levring, T. 1938. Verzeichnis einiger Chlorophyceen und Phaeophyceen von Südafrika. Lunds Universitets Årsskrift, N.F. Avd. 2, 34(9): 1-25.

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.

 

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 18 November 2024.