Gymnogongrus griffithsiae explained
Gymnogongrus griffithsiae is a small uncommon seaweed.
Description
This small alga grows to 5 cm long from a small disc. The fronds are erect, stiff and branch dichotomously in 1 plane, the tips a little flattened. In colour it is dark purplish brown. The structure is multiaxial with elongated cells surrounded cortical cells.[1] [2]
Reproduction
Male spermatangia are unknown.[2] [3] Carpotetasporangial outgrowths, that is sporangia containing four spores,[4] by a carposporophyte outgrowth which develops during the year.[2]
Distribution
Found in Great Britain and Ireland with a southern range, as far north as Lough Swilly. In the north Atlantic in the Azores in Europe to Massachusetts to Virginia in North America.[5] [6]
Habitat
The plants grow in rock pools of the lower littoral and in the upper sublittoral.[2]
Possible confusion
This species is similar to Ahnfeltia plicata which usually has wiry irregular branching.[2]
Further reading
- Guiry . M.D. . Irvine . L.M. . Morton . O. . 1981 . Notes on Irish marine algae- 4 Gymnogongrus devoniensis (Greville) Schotter (Rhodophyta) . Irish Naturalists Journal . 20 . 7 . 288–292 . 25538522.
Notes and References
- Book: Bunker . F.StP D. . Brodie . J.A. . Maggs . C.A. . Bunker . A.R. . 2017 . Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland . Second . Wild Nature Press . Plymouth, UK . 978-0-9955673-3-7.
- Book: Dixon . P.S. . Irvine . L.M. . 1977 . Seaweeds of the British Isles Volume 1 Rhodophyta Part 1 Introduction, Nemaliales, Gigartinales . British Museum (Natural History) . 0-565-00781-5.
- Book: Fritsch . F.E. . 1965 . The Structure and Reproduction of Algae Volume 11 . Cambridge University Press.
- Book: Irvine . L.M. . 1983 . Seaweeds of the British Isles Volume 1 Rhodophyta . 99 . British Museum (Natural History) . 0-565-00871-4.
- Book: Morton . O. . 1994 . Marine Algae of Northern Ireland . Ulster Museum . 0900761288.
- Morton . O. . 2003 . The marine macroalgae of County Donegal, Ireland . Bulletin of Irish Biogeographical Society . 27.
