Chaetomorpha linum

Chaetomorpha linum (O. F. Müller) Kützing

Conferva linum O. F. Müller, 1778:7, pl. 771; fig. 2.

Chaetomorpha linum (O. F. Müller) Kützing, 1845:204; Dawson, 1949:229; Dawson, 1959a:12; Dawson, 1961b:377; Devinny, 1978:358; L. Aguilar-Rosas et al., 1982:54, 61; L. Aguilar-Rosas and Bertsch, 1983:115, 121; Blair, 1983:178, figs. 1, 2a; Huerta-Múzquiz and Mendoza-González, 1985:42; Mendoza-González and Mateo-Cid, 1985:22; L. Aguilar-Rosas and Pacheco-Ruíz, 1986:77; Mendoza-González and Mateo-Cid, 1986:419; Ortega et al., 1987:79, 90, pl. 15: fig. 68; L. Aguilar-Rosas and Pacheco-Ruíz, 1989:81; R. Aguilar-Rosas and Machado-Galindo, 1990:188; Stewart, 1991:29; Mateo-Cid and Mendoza-González, 1991:27; Rocha-Ramírez and Siqueiros-Beltrones, 1991:24; Mendoza-González and Mateo-Cid, 1992:24; Mateo-Cid and Mendoza-González, 1992:24; Mateo-Cid et al., 1993:51; León-Tejera and González-González, 1993:497; Servière-Zaragoza et al., 1993:482; R. Aguilar-Rosas and M. Aguilar-Rosas, 1994:517; Mateo-Cid and Mendoza-González, 1994b:34, 44; Mendoza-González et al., 1994:112; González-González et al., 1996:278; Yoshida, 1998:56; Servière-Zaragoza et al., 1998:169, 177, 180; Rodríguez-Morales and Siqueiros-Beltrones, 1999:22; L. Aguilar-Rosas et al., 2000:133, 134; L. Aguilar-Rosas et al., 2002:235; Wysor, 2004:216; Pedroche et al., 2005:38–39; Riosmena-Rodríguez et al., 2005:101; Hernández-Herrera et al., 2005:146.

Chaetomorpha aerea f. linum (O. F. Müller) Collins, 1909b:325.

Chaetomorpha aerea sensu Dawson, 1944:208 [in part] [non Chaetomorpha aerea (Dillwyn) Kützing, 1849:379].

Algae of mostly curved to curled, uniseriate filaments, up to 5 (or more) cm long, usually entangled and unattached or occasionally found attached to substrate by an elongated, lobed basal cell. Upper cells cylindrical to barrel-shaped, (175–)200–450 µm in diameter, and not as long as wide or only slightly longer (length 0.75–1.5 times the width); basal cells, when present, 3–8 times longer than wide.

Reproductive cells barrel-shaped to subglobose, 400–600 µm in diameter.

HABITAT. Estuarine habitats and mangrove lagoons; mid intertidal to shallow subtidal (also dredged; Dawson, 1944).

DISTRIBUTION. Gulf of California: Puertecitos to La Paz. Pacific coast: Alaska to Baja California; Sinaloa to Colima; Oaxaca; Panamá; Chile; Japan.

SYNTYPE LOCALITIES. Nakskov Fjord and Rødby Fjord, Denmark.

REMARKS. The species Chaetomorpha linum and C. aerea have long been problematic and often confused (Blair, 1983), and Gulf of California specimens referred to either of these species should be reexamined to determine if only one or both taxa occur in the northern Gulf of California. See also comments herein on Chaetomorpha aerea under Remarks for that species.

Cladophora Kützing

Cladophora Kützing, 1843:262

Algae consisting of uniseriate filaments, sparsely to profusely branched; usually erect and attached by rhizoids from basal cells; or sometimes free-floating, forming small to large filamentous masses. Branching is often up to several orders, most with variation in pattern of branching and in diameter (often decreasing in diameter upward). Cells are cylindrical, multinucleate, and with numerous small chloroplasts (usually form a parietal reticulum) and pyrenoids. Cell division is apical or intercalary or sometimes both.

Vegetative reproduction by fragmentation occurs in many species. Life histories are an alternation of isomorphic generations. The terminal and subterminal cells of the filaments become the reproductive cells. Sporophytic reproduction is usually by the formation of quadriflagellate or biflagellate zoospores. Gametophytes produce biflagellate isogametes.

Chaetomorpha linum (Müller) Kützing

St. Paul: 1, 67–360, drifted ashore. St. John: 8, 67–479, very common as entangled among other attached algae. Also 67–488, drifted ashore.

Chaetomorpha linum is a species of green algae in the family Cladophoraceae.

Chaetomorpha linum and Chaetomorpha aerea are considered by some authors to be conspecific. This is not accepted by other authorities.