| Porolithon | |
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| Porolithon pachydermum | |
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| Genus: | Porolithon Foslie, 1909 [1] |
Porolithon is a genus of red algae comprising 24 species. [1] The Porolithon are the primary reef building algae. When coral reefs reach sea level, the corals break under the high energy impact of the waves, while the coralline red algae, primarily Porolithon, continuing building and cementing the reef structure. [2]
Accepted species in the genus are: [3]
Coralline algae are red algae in the order Corallinales. They are characterized by a thallus that is hard because of calcareous deposits contained within the cell walls. The colors of these algae are most typically pink, or some other shade of red, but some species can be purple, yellow, blue, white, or gray-green. Coralline algae play an important role in the ecology of coral reefs. Sea urchins, parrot fish, and limpets and chitons feed on coralline algae. In the temperate Mediterranean Sea, coralline algae are the main builders of a typical algal reef, the Coralligène ("coralligenous"). Many are typically encrusting and rock-like, found in marine waters all over the world. Only one species lives in freshwater. Unattached specimens may form relatively smooth compact balls to warty or fruticose thalli.
Halimeda is a genus of green macroalgae. The algal body (thallus) is composed of calcified green segments. Calcium carbonate is deposited in its tissues, making it inedible to most herbivores. However one species, Halimeda tuna, was described as pleasant to eat with oil, vinegar, and salt.
The history of phycology is the history of the scientific study of algae. Human interest in plants as food goes back into the origins of the species and knowledge of algae can be traced back more than two thousand years. However, only in the last three hundred years has that knowledge evolved into a rapidly developing science.
The Corallinaceae are one of the two extant Coralline families of red algae; they are differentiated from the morphologically similar Sporolithaceae by their formation of grouped sporangial chambers, clustered into sori. The Corallinoideae is monophyletic; the other subfamilies form another monophyletic group.
Peyssonnelia is a genus of thalloid red alga. It includes the algae commonly known as rumoi-iwanokawa, mayoi-iwanokawa and akase-iwanokawa. Specimens can reach around 20 cm in size. Peyssonnelia produces tetraspores.
Halymenia a genus of a macroscopic red algae that grows in oceans worldwide. It includes the following species:
Lithophyllum is a genus of thalloid red algae belonging to the family Corallinaceae.
Rhodymenia is a genus of red algae, containing the following species:
Hydroclathrus is a genus of perforate brown alga, Phylum Ochrophyta, Class Phaeophyceae
Synarthrophyton is a genus of thalloid red algae comprising eight species. The monomerous, crustose thalli are composed of a single system of filaments which grow close to the underlying surface. Synarthrophyton reproduces by means of flask-shaped multiporate conceptacles; it produces tetraspores and dispores. Mucus plugs the opening of young conceptacles, which open as they mature.
Amphiroa is a genus of thalloid red algae comprising 55 species. Specimens can reach around 30 cm in size. The thalli take a crustose form; dichotomous branches are formed. The organisms possess secondary pit connections. Amphiroa reproduces by means of conceptacles; it produces tetraspores. Its pore canals are lined with parallel filaments; the morphology of the pore canal is a key trait used to delineate species within the genus.
Prochloron is a genus of unicellular oxygenic photosynthetic prokaryotes commonly found as an extracellular symbiont on coral reefs, particularly in didemnid ascidians. Part of the phylum cyanobacteria, it was theorized that Prochloron is a predecessor of the photosynthetic components, chloroplasts, found in photosynthetic eukaryotic cells. However this theory is largely refuted by phylogenetic studies which indicate Prochloron is not on the same line of descent that lead to chloroplast-containing algae and land plants.
Laurencia is a genus of red algae that grow in temperate and tropical shore areas, in littoral to sublittoral habitats, at depths up to 65 m (213 ft).
Halodule uninervis is a species of seagrass in the family Cymodoceaceae. It is native to the western Pacific and Indian Oceans. Common names include narrowleaf seagrass in English and a'shab bahriya in Arabic.
Spongites yendoi is a species of crustose red seaweed with a hard, calcareous skeleton in the family Corallinaceae. It is found on the lower shore as part of a diverse community in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean and the Indo-Pacific Ocean.
Sporolithon is a genus of red coralline algae in the family Sporolithaceae, in the order Corallinales.
Sporolithon ptychoides is a species of crustose red seaweed with a hard, calcareous skeleton in the family Corallinaceae. It has a widespread distribution, being present in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the Mediterranean Sea and the southwestern Atlantic Ocean.
Spatoglossum is a marine brown algal genus in the family Dictyotaceae, with a worldwide distribution