Algae ID Please
- Thread starter Mark1104
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piercho
New member
See if this mini-key fits (from Huisman/Abbott/Smith 2007):
Plants not calcified.....1
1. Plants firm, irregularly globose or solid, composed of discrete cells.......2
1. Plant not as above, spongy....3
2. Plants encrusting or upright, cells abutting each other, not in a matrix.....DICTYOSPHAERIA
3. Plants either creeping or upright, epilithic, with terete branches or spongiose, composed of densely entwined filaments with an outer layer or elongate utricles (swollen ends of filaments)......CODIUM
If you say the plant is not calcified and is not spongy, I'd lean toward Dictyosphaeria. If it is calcified, then.....?? D. cavernosa made an appearance in my tank and is a common 'bubble' algae. The tight clusters of small vesicals is obvious in D. cavernosa and I can't make them out in your picture.
Plants not calcified.....1
1. Plants firm, irregularly globose or solid, composed of discrete cells.......2
1. Plant not as above, spongy....3
2. Plants encrusting or upright, cells abutting each other, not in a matrix.....DICTYOSPHAERIA
3. Plants either creeping or upright, epilithic, with terete branches or spongiose, composed of densely entwined filaments with an outer layer or elongate utricles (swollen ends of filaments)......CODIUM
If you say the plant is not calcified and is not spongy, I'd lean toward Dictyosphaeria. If it is calcified, then.....?? D. cavernosa made an appearance in my tank and is a common 'bubble' algae. The tight clusters of small vesicals is obvious in D. cavernosa and I can't make them out in your picture.
piercho
New member
From flipping through a little picture-book of algae, I've found a brown algae that looks something like yours.
Fronds irregularly globular, with and without perforations.
Plants globular, not regular perforate.
COLPOMENIA
This genus includes light-brown plants that are convoluted, irregularly lobed, and mostly hollow.
Fronds irregularly globular, with and without perforations.
Plants globular, not regular perforate.
COLPOMENIA
This genus includes light-brown plants that are convoluted, irregularly lobed, and mostly hollow.
Bullseye, Thanks for the detective work. That description is dead on.
From some UK sight.
Colpomenia peregrina is a non-gelatinous green alga. It is greenish-olive in colour with fine brown dots. It forms a thin-walled hollow sphere, usually 1-7 cm in diameter. It may be confused with the native Leathesia difformis which is lobed with a gelatinous surface. Colpomenia peregrina is dry and papery to the touch and can be torn easily.
Colpomenia peregrina occurs naturally in the Pacific Ocean. It was introduced to France with with juvenile Crassostrea virginica from the Pacific coast of North America. Colpomenia peregrina was introduced in 1907 from France into Cornwall and Dorset. It has negligible effects on the environment. In other countries, it grows attached to oysters and floats away with the oyster when the air-filled thalli grow large enough. Hence the common name of oyster thief.
Thanks gain for the help!
From some UK sight.
Colpomenia peregrina is a non-gelatinous green alga. It is greenish-olive in colour with fine brown dots. It forms a thin-walled hollow sphere, usually 1-7 cm in diameter. It may be confused with the native Leathesia difformis which is lobed with a gelatinous surface. Colpomenia peregrina is dry and papery to the touch and can be torn easily.
Colpomenia peregrina occurs naturally in the Pacific Ocean. It was introduced to France with with juvenile Crassostrea virginica from the Pacific coast of North America. Colpomenia peregrina was introduced in 1907 from France into Cornwall and Dorset. It has negligible effects on the environment. In other countries, it grows attached to oysters and floats away with the oyster when the air-filled thalli grow large enough. Hence the common name of oyster thief.
Thanks gain for the help!
