Padina gymnospora is characterised by the thick thallus (up to 8 cell layers), the distribution of sporangia primarily on the superior surface of the thallus and the evanescent indusium.Specimens are collected in shallow pools in the sublittoral fringe (De Clerck et al 2002).
Thalli, attached by a small stupose rhizoidal base, are to 6.5 cm high, flabellate and composed of several lobes with inrolled margins. The superior surface (the side toward which the margin is inrolled) is slightly to moderately calcified. Thalli are olive-brown in colour. In transverse section the thallus is composed of 4-6 layers of cells in the mid-regions and up to 8-9 layers near the base. Hair rows are present on both sides of the thallus, but more conspicuous on the inferior side of the thallus. Tetrasporangia are arranged in concentric lines, above each hair row, mainly (but not exclusively) developed on the superior surface. An evanescent indusium is present but is usually only clearly visible in very young sori. Tetrasporangia are ovoid, up to 100 μm long and 70 μm wide. Gametophytes were not observed (De Clerck et al 2002).
De Clerck, O., H.R. Engledow, J.J. Bolton, J.J. Anderson and E. Coppejans 2002 Twenty marine benthic algae new to South Africa, with emphasis on the flora of Kwazulu-Natal. Botanica Marina 45:413-431.
Taken from Guiry, M.D. and G.M. Guiry 2009
Max length : 6.5 cm TL male/unsexed (Guiry and Guiry 2009)
Benthic; brackish; depth range 0 - 14 m (Bernecker, 2009).Tropical.
Bernecker, A. 2009 Marine benthic algae. p. 109-118 In Wehrtmann, I.S. and Cortés, J. 2009. Marine biodiversity of Costa Rica, Central America. Springer 538pp.
From SeaLifeBase (Palomares and Pauly 2014)
Atlantic Ocean: from North Carolina, USA south to Brazil including the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and Bermuda, east to Salvage (Selvagens) Islands and south to Angola, including the Mediterranean (Israel), Canary, Cape Verde and Ascension Island; Indian Ocean: In the Arabian Sea south to South Africa, including the Persian Gulf, Seychelles, Madagascar and Réunion, east to India and south to Western Australia including Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea; Pacific Ocean: from Korea to the South China Sea south to Queensland, Australia, east to Hawaiian Islands including Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji and Samoan Archipelago.
From Palomares and Pauly 2014.
Studies of sulfated polysaccarides extracted from the brown algae Padina gymnospora (Dictyotales) indicate that these chemicals have anti-inflammatory properties in mice.Chemical characterization and analysis to examine the effect of these fulcans upon leukocyte migration to an inflammation site, effect of these fulcans upon cytotoxicity and nitric oxide (NO) produced indicate that these fulcans also show no cytotoxic action.Marquez et al. 2012 suggest that fulcan extracts from P. gymnospora have potential pharmaceutical use (Marquez et al. 2012; Silva et al. 2005 ).
