dcsimg

Comprehensive Description

provided by Smithsonian Contributions to Botany
Sphacelaria californica (Sauvageau) Setchell et N. L. Gardner

Sphacelaria plumula var. californica Sauvageau, 1901:108, fig. 21.

Sphacelaria californica (Sauvageau) Setchell et N. L. Gardner, 1925:395, pl. 37: figs. 23–27; Abbott and Hollenberg, 1976:216, fig. 179; Boo and Chou, 1986:99, figs. 16–22; Sánchez-Rodríguez et al., 1989:41; Yoshida et al., 1990:281; Kitayama et al., 1991:189–193, figs. 1–22; Stewart, 1991:51; Prud’homme van Reine, 1993:150; Kitayama, 1994:52, figs. 7–11, 56G; González-González et al., 1996:164; Yoshida, 1998:197, fig. 2-3 G; Draisma et al., 1998:186–187, tbl. 2; Keum et al., 1999:24, figs. 1–41; Mendoza-González et al., 2000:25, figs. 12–15; L. Aguilar-Rosas et al., 2002:132; Riosmena-Rodríguez et al., 2005:101; Servière-Zaragoza et al., 2007:8; Pedroche et al. 2008 (in part; S. californica only):31.

Sphacelaria tribuloides sensu De A. Saunders, 1898:158, pl. 26: figs. 1–8 [non Sphacelaria tribuloides Meneghini, 1840:[2])].

Algae filamentous tufts, relatively stiff, up to 2.0 cm tall; main axes 25–50 µm in diameter in lower portion, widening to 60–95 µm in diameter in midportions; lower portion without laterals or only very few; attached by small polystromatic disc or, if epiphytic, by rhizoids. Upper portions of axes irregularly branched (sometimes more or less pinnate) with primary and secondary lateral branches; laterals narrowed at base. Apical cell prominent, 40–60 µm in diameter, 90–200 µm long; uppermost segments of uniseriate cells; segments below multiseriate, longitudinally divided by 1–5 walls; occasionally, longitudinal divided

cells with a few secondary transverse walls. Phaeophycean hairs may be absent or sparse to abundant.

Propagules ellipsoidal when young, tribuliform when mature, 140–170 µm long, 80–105 µm wide; with 1 central and 2 lateral, slightly protruding, round, conical apical cells (Figure 52A). Unilocular sporangia, spherical to oval, 40–50 µm long, 30–50 µm in diameter. Plurilocular sporangia obovate, borne on a 1-celled pedicel, 30–40 µm by 50–70 µm.

HABITAT. On rocks and in tide pools; high to mid intertidal.

DISTRIBUTION. Gulf of California: Puertecitos to San José del Cabo. Pacific coast: Isla Guadalupe; southern California to southernmost Baja California Sur; Islas Revillagigedo; Jalisco to Colima; China; Korea; Japan.

TYPE LOCALITY. San Diego, San Diego County, California.
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bibliographic citation
Norris, James N. 2010. "Marine algae of the northern Gulf of California : Chlorophyta and Phaeophyceae." Smithsonian Contributions to Botany. 276-276. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.0081024X.94.276