Gymnogongrus griffithsiae

Gymnogongrus griffithsiae
Scientific classification
Clade:	Archaeplastida
Division:	Rhodophyta
Class:	Florideophyceae
Order:	Gigartinales
Family:	Phyllophoraceae
Genus:	Gymnogongrus
Species:	G. griffithsiae
Binomial name
	Gymnogongrus griffithsiae; (Turner) C.Martius

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]^{[failed verification]} 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]

References

^ Bunker, F.StP D.; Brodie, J.A.; Maggs, C.A.; Bunker, A.R. (2017). Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland (Second ed.). Plymouth, UK: Wild Nature Press. ISBN 978-0-9955673-3-7.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Dixon, P.S.; Irvine, L.M. (1977). Seaweeds of the British Isles Volume 1 Rhodophyta Part 1 Introduction, Nemaliales, Gigartinales. British Museum (Natural History). ISBN 0-565-00781-5.
^ Fritsch, F.E. (1965). The Structure and Reproduction of Algae Volume 11. Cambridge University Press.
^ Irvine, L.M. (1983). Seaweeds of the British Isles Volume 1 Rhodophyta. British Museum (Natural History). p. 99. ISBN 0-565-00871-4.
^ Morton, O. (1994). Marine Algae of Northern Ireland. Ulster Museum. ISBN 0900761288.
^ Morton, O. (2003). "The marine macroalgae of County Donegal, Ireland". Bulletin of Irish Biogeographical Society (27).