Seaweeds of the South African South Coast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Order Bryopsidales

Family Codiaceae

Codium capitatum P.C.Silva 1959: 135-138

Thalli dark green, erect, dichotomously branched, cylindrical, up to 20 cm long, slender, smooth (no hairs), attached by weft of branched filaments. Erect branches uniform in diameter (2-3.5 mm) throughout. Utricles cylindrical, 350-700 µm long, 100-200 (250) µm in diameter, usually with distinct constriction below the rounded tip (i.e. capitate); cell wall thickened near end of utricle; hairs seldom present.

Collections, ecology and regional distribution

Found from about Port St Johns northward through KZN (46-58) (Silva 1959). Attached to rock in pools and shallow sublittoral.

World distribution: also recorded from Mozambique, Kenya and Madagascar (Guiry in Guiry & Guiry 2014).

Type locality: Umhlanga rocks, KZN (Silva et al. 1996).

Note: Although superficially similar to some other local Codium species, C. capitatum is distinguishable by its capitate utricles.

 

Codium capitatum, general habit

Codium capitatum, capitate utricle

Codium capitatum, capitate utricles (re-drawn from Silva 1959)

 

References

M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 2014. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched on 02 July 2014.

Silva, P.C. (1959). The genus Codium (Chlorophyta) in South Africa. Journal of South African Botany 25: 101-165, 22 figs, Plates II-XVI.

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.