Seaweeds of the South African South Coast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Order Colaconematales

Family Colaconemataceae

Colaconema caespitosum (J.Agardh) Jackelman, Stegenga & J.J.Bolton 1991: 303

Plants bushy, up to 1 cm tall, epilithic, epiphytic, or with multicellular filamentous endophytic base. Erect filaments with laterals in short secund series, 15-20 µm in diameter, the cells up to 80 µm long; laterals frequently tapering into pseudohairs. Cells with 2-4 (-6) parietal chloroplasts, each a lobed plate with a central pyrenoid; in older cells the separate chloroplasts apparently fusing into a single cylinder, but the separate pyrenoids remaining recognizable. Monosporangia single or in small clusters, in short adaxial rows on the laterals, ovate, sessile or pedicellate, 20-30 x 15-17 µm.

Collections, ecology and regional distribution

Recorded from Kommetjie on the west coast of the Cape Peninsula to Hluleka (16-45). On the west coast this species is frequent as an epiphyte on stipes of the kelp Ecklonia maxima and also semi-endophytic on Codium spp. On the south coast it has been found as an epiphyte on stipes of Ecklonia radiata and on various other seaweeds including Dictyota, as well as on mussels and on rock in shaded parts of the upper eulittoral zone.

World distribution: widespread in temperate and tropical seas, under various names (Guiry & Guiry 2014).

Type locality: Brest, France (Athanasiadis 1996).

Notes: see Stegenga (1985 – as C. botryocarpa (Harvey) Stegenga) and Stegenga et al. (1997) for details of relationships with other species.

Colaconema caespitosum, erect axis with monosporangia (reproduced from Stegenga et al., 1997).

 

References Colaconema caespitosum

Athanasiadis, A. (1996). Taxonomisk litteratur och biogeografi av Skandinaviska rödalger och brunalger. pp. 1-280. Göteborg: Algologia.

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 30 October 2014.

Jackelman, J.J., Stegenga, H.S. & Bolton, J.J. (1991). The marine benthic flora of the Cape Hangklip area and its phytogeographical affinities. South African Journal of Botany 57: 295-304, 4 figs, 1 table.

Stegenga, H. (1985). The marine Acrochaetiaceae (Rhodophyta) of southern Africa. South African Journal of Botany 51: 291-330, 25 figs, 1 table.

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 19 December 2024.