Schmitzia hiscockiana
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| Schmitzia hiscokiana | ||||||||||
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| Schmitzia hiscockiana Maggs & Guiry |
Schmitzia hiscockiana Maggs & Guiry is a small, rare, red seaweed or marine alga of the Rhodophyta or red algae. It was discovered and named in 1985.
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[edit] Distribution
This small red marine algae has been found at about 10 sites in Northern Ireland.
[edit] Habitat
This species is known only from the sublittoral zone to 15m depth. it grows on cobbles and pebbles.
The gametophyte plants exist between April and August, and are in the crustose phase from September to December.
[edit] Species description
The gametophyte phase is a soft and gelatinous plant, no more than 8 cm long, 6 cm wide and a few millimeters thick. It is flattened and divided in a leaf-like manner with marginal proliferations. Rose pink in colour, blades composed of a filamentous axis bearing whorls of branchlets 4 or 5 per axial cell. These whorls of branchlets form a cortex.
[edit] Life cycle
The plants are monoecious, bearing spermatia and carpogonia. After fertilization and development of connecting filaments and fusion with intercalary vegetative cells, a carposporphyte develops. The tetrasporophyte phase is crustose and unknown in the wild. [1] It is bright red and grows to 6 mm in diameter and composed of a single basal layer of cells which produce erect filaments some of which produce tetraspores. These tetraspores develop and grow to give rise to the gametophyte generations. [2]
[edit] Similar species
Other species of Schmitzia are distinct. S. neapolitana from the North Atlantic and Mediterranean is always terete. S. hiscockiana is easily recognizable: it more closely resembles S. evanescens (New Zealand) and S. japonica (Japan and Australia).
[edit] References
- ^ Hardy, F.G. and Guiry, M.D. 2006. A Check-list and Atlas of the Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland. British Phycological Society, London. ISBN 3-906166-35-X
- ^ Maggs, C.A. and Guiry, M.D. 1985. Life history and reproduction of Schmitzia hiscockiana sp.nov. (Rhodophyta, Gigartinales) from the British Isles. Phycologia 24: 297 – 310
1. Hardy, F.G. and Guiry, M.D. 2006. A Check-list and Atlas of the Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland. British Phycological Society, London. ISBN 3-906166-35-X .
2. Maggs, C.A. and Guiry, M.D. 1985. Life history and reproduction of Schmitzia hiscockiana sp.nov. (Rhodophyta, Gigartinales) from the British Isles. Phycologia 24: 297 – 310.
