Specimen image via iDigBio · CC0
Polysiphonia
Sign in to savePolysiphonia, known as red hair algae, is a genus of filamentous red algae with about 19 species on the coasts of the British Isles and about 200 species worldwide, including Crete in Greece, Antarctica and Greenland. Its members are known by a number of common names. It is in the order Ceramiales and family Rhodomelaceae.
Species
Genus
- PhylumCnidaria
- ClassHexacorallia
- OrderActiniaria
- FamilyExocoelactinidae
via
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 8,217
- With media
- 5,357
- Family
- Rhodomelaceae
- Collections
- CICIMAR-IPN, CCBA-FMVZ-UADY, NCU, FC-UNAM, UCSB, USCH
- Recorded in
- Mexico, United States, Morocco, Japan
~7 min read
Encyclopedic overview
7 sectionsContents
- Description
- Distribution and ecology
- Reproduction and life cycle
- Species
- Notes
- References
- External links
Polysiphonia, known as red hair algae, is a genus of filamentous red algae with about 19 species on the coasts of the British Isles and about 200 species worldwide, including Crete in Greece, Antarctica and Greenland. Its members are known by a number of common names. It is in the order Ceramiales and family Rhodomelaceae.
==Description== Polysiphonia is a red alga, polysiphonous and usually well branched, with some plants reaching a length of about 30 cm. They are attached by rhizoids or haptera to a rocky surface or other alga. The thallus (tissue) consists of fine branched filaments each with a central axial filament supporting pericentral cells. The number of these pericentral cells (4–24) is used in identification. Polysiphonia elongata shows a central axial cell with 4 periaxial cells with cortical cells growing over the outside on the older fronds. Its cuticle contains bromine.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Polysiphonia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.