Compsopogon

Compsopogon
Compsopogon sp.
Scientific classification
(unranked):	Archaeplastida
Division:	Rhodophyta
Class:	Compsopogonophyceae
Order:	Compsopogonales
Family:	Compsopogonaceae
Genus:	Compsopogon
Species:	C. caeruleus
Binomial name
Compsopogon caeruleus (Balbis ex C.Agardh) Montagne

Compsopogon caeruleus, known as staghorn algae, is a species of red algae that lives in fresh water. It is a common nuisance in freshwater aquaria. ^[1] It is the only species in the genus Compsopogon and the only representative of the family Compsopogonaceae. It is found in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, ^[2] Asia, Australasia and Oceania. Compsopogon can tolerate a wide range of conditions in freshwater streams and occasionally in brackish lagoons and estuaries. ^[3] It propagates by asexual spores.

Compsopogon presents a thallus of simple cylindrical cells inside large covered cortical cells. In more mature and large thallus interior cells can be disintegrated, leaving only the outer cortex.

The species exhibits a wide phenotypic plasticity in studies such as field observations, with the result that historically many species have been described, when current thought treats it as a single species. There are two main morphologies in Compsopogon, one displaying regular cortical cells (morphology caeruleus), the other having cells with extra rhizoidals (morphology leptoclados). ^[4]

References

1. "Staghorn algae". Aquasabi. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
2. The genus was first published from samples taken in Algeria by J.F.C. Montagne in Flore d'Algérie (1846).
3. "Algaebase: Compsopogon Montagne 1846". Archived from the original on 2019-06-06. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
4. Joseph Seckbach; David J. Chapman (30 August 2010). Red Algae in the Genomic Age. Springer. pp. 113–. ISBN   978-90-481-3794-7 . Retrieved 31 January 2011.