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Chaetomorpha aerea (Dillwyn) Kütz.

Reference
Sp.Alg. 379 (1849)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus medium to dark green, erect, epilithic (or epiphytic on Posidonia), with numerous closely associated, unbranched filaments, each attached by an elongate basal cell 100–900 µm long with a lobed base and descending rhizoids. Filaments increasing in diameter upwards. Cells 100–150 µm in diameter and L/B 1–2(–3) near the base, usually 200–250 µm in diameter and L/B (0.5–)1–1.5(–3) in upper parts and in long and well developed filaments 500–600(–700) µm in diameter and L/B 0.5–1(–2); filaments slightly to markedly constricted at cross walls; cell length noticeably dependent on time since cell division; wall 2–4 µm thick; chloroplasts densely reticulate with numerous pyrenoids.

Reproduction. Biflagellate and quadriflagellate zooids observed in Australian plants.

Distribution. Cosmopolitan. In Australia, from North Beach, Perth, W. Aust., (and probably further north) around southern Australia and Tas., to Qld.

[After Womersley, Mar. Benthic Fl. Southern Australia I: 172–174 (1984)]

John Huisman & Cheryl Parker, 3 August 2021

Distribution

IBRA Regions
Esperance Plains, Swan Coastal Plain, Warren.
IBRA Subregions
Perth, Recherche, Warren.
IMCRA Regions
Central West Coast, Leeuwin-Naturaliste, WA South Coast.
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Albany, Bunbury, Cockburn, Cottesloe, Esperance, Fremantle, Manjimup, Mosman Park, Rockingham, South Perth, Wanneroo.