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Halimeda macrophysa Askenasy

Reference
Forschungsr.Gazelle, Bot.Alg. 4:14 Pl. 4, Figs 1-4 (1888)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus erect but tending to sprawl, pale green (occasionally with a hint of blue), epilithic, typically growing between coral and in reef cavities, dichotomously to trichotomously branched; axes imbricate. Segments moderately calcified, chalky and dull, variously orientated, mostly reniform with entire margins, flattened but often curled (particularly the distal margins); surfaces appearing pitted due to large utricles. Utricles in 2 or 3 layers; peripheral utricles clavate, 150–200 μm diam., in surface pits formed by the calcification, laterally free after decalcification. Secondary utricles much smaller, obdeltoid; tertiary utricles elongate, cylindrical. Medullary siphons 35–100 µm diam., broadest subtending dichotomies, fusing in groups of 2 or 3 at nodes .

Distribution. Widespread in the Indo-West Pacific.

Habitat. Epilithic in the subtidal.

[After Huisman & Verbruggen, Algae of Australia: Mar. Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 1. Green and Brown Algae 134 (2015)]