Seaweeds of the South African South Coast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Order Gigartinales

Family Gigartinaceae

Gigartina minima Kylin 1938: 13, fig. 11.

Thallus reddish-brown, 0.5 – 1.5 cm high, sparely and irregularly branched, axes 600-900 µm diameter, tapering towards apices and bearing thorn-like branchlets. Thallus multiaxial; in cross-section medulla a network of branching cells, cortex of anticlinal filaments of small cells. Cystocarps almost spherical, borne singly on branchlets. Tetrasporangia developing in cortical layer.

Collections, ecology and regional distribution

Found from Goukamma to near Cape St Lucia in KZN (29-55). Lower eulittoral, usually as a rather cryptic component of mixed turfs.

World distribution: apparently a South African endemic.

Type locality: Isipingo Beach, near Durban (Kylin, 1938).

 

Gigartina minima, from Palm Beach, southern KZN.

Gigartina minima, cross section.

 

References Gigartina minima

Kylin, H. 1938. Verzeichnis einiger Rhodophyceen von Südafrika. Lunds Universitets Årsskrift, N. F. Avd. 2, 34(8): 1-26, 10 figs, 8 plates.

 

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 April 2024.