Seaweeds of the South African South Coast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Order Caulerpales

Family Caulerpaceae

Caulerpa zeyheri Kützing 1857: 4, pl. 8: fig. III

Plants bright light-green, usually forming dense cushions up to several cm high. Stolons 0.5-1.0 mm in diameter, profusely branched, attached to substratum by short rhizoidal branches and bearing erect, often dense, assimilators on short (1-2 mm) usually unbranched cylindrical stalks. Dense alternate (sometimes opposite) branchlets have swollen, pear-shaped tips up to 1mm or more in diameter.

Collections, ecology and regional distribution

Recorded from Haga-Haga to Mozambique (Coppejans et al. 2005) (42-58).

Lower eulittoral and eulittoral fringe, often interwoven with other algae.

World distribution: restricted to the southern African coast.

Type locality: "Coast of southern Africa" (Silva et al. 1996).

 

Caulerpa zeyheri, Double Mouth

Caulerpa zeyheri, detail of assimilator arrangement

 

References Caulerpa zeyheri

Coppejans, E., Leliaert, F., Verbruggen, H. 2005. Green Algae. In De Clerck, O., J.J.Bolton, R. J. Anderson and E. Coppejans, 2005. Guide to the Seaweeds of Kwazulu-Natal. National Botanic Garden of Belgium, Brussels (Scripta Botanica Belgica), pp 40-93.

Kützing, F.T. (1857). Tabulae phycologicae; oder, Abbildungen der Tange. Vol. 7 pp. i-ii, 1-40, 100 pls. Nordhausen: Gedruckt auf kosten des Verfassers (in commission bei W. Köhne).

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 19 December 2024.