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Gayralia oxysperma (Kütz.) Scagel, P.W.Gabrielson, Garbary, Golden, M.W.Hawkes, S.C.Lindstr., J.C.Oliveira & Widd.

Reference
Phycol.Contr. 3:72 (1989)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus light to medium green, delicate but fairly firm, somewhat shiny when partly dried, 2–8(–12) cm high and usually as much across, irregularly foliose, often with ruffled marginal parts but usually without lobes, usually epilithic, attached by rhizoids from the basal cells; thallus 10–15(–20) µm thick. Cells of the expanded blade irregularly polygonal to rounded, 7–15 µm across with gelatinous walls, mostly irregularly arranged but sometimes in groups or in rows; chloroplast filling most of the cell, with 1(–2) prominent pyrenoids.

Reproduction. By biflagellate zoospores only, formed in marginal cells of the thallus.

Distribution. Widely distributed on temperate coasts.

Habitat. In the mid to upper eulittoral, usually under sheltered conditions, and often where salinity varies considerably.

[After Womersley, Mar. Benthic Fl. Southern Australia I: 244–246 (1984), as Ulvaria oxysperma]

John Huisman & Cheryl Parker, 3 August 2021

Distribution

IBRA Regions
Carnarvon, Swan Coastal Plain, Warren.
IBRA Subregions
Perth, Warren, Wooramel.
IMCRA Regions
Leeuwin-Naturaliste, Ningaloo, Pilbara (offshore).
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Ashburton, Augusta Margaret River, Exmouth, Fremantle, Shark Bay.