Sphacelaria tribuloides

Sphacelaria tribuloides Meneghini

St. Paul: 1, 67–325, scarce, on the large rocks along shore.

Sphacelaria tribuloides Meneghini

Sphacelaria tribuloides Meneghini, 1840:[2]; Dawson, 1959a:5, 18; Dawson, 1961b:387; Huerta-Muzquiz and Tirado-Lizárraga, 1970:127, 130; Prud’homme van Reine, 1982:179, figs. 422–454; Huerta-Múzquiz and Mendoza-González, 1985:44; Mateo-Cid et al., 1993:50; Yoshida et al., 1990:28; Prud’homme van Reine, 1993:149; González-González, 1993:443; León-Tejera et al., 1993:204; León-Tejera and González-González, 1993:498; Servière-Zaragoza et al., 1993:482; Kitayama, 1994:59, figs. 12–15; González-González et al., 1996:300, 381; Yoshida, 1998:202, fig. 2-3 E; L. Aguilar-Rosas et al., 2000:132; Mendoza-González et al., 2000:28, figs. 38–41; Abbott and Huisman, 2004:190, fig. 72D,E; Mateo-Cid et al., 2006:49, 57; Pedroche et al., 2008:34.

Algae forming tufts of relatively stiff filaments; axes mostly unbranched or only sparsely, irregularly branched; axes and branches 25–50(–70) µm in diameter; attached below by discoid or stoloniferous base. Segments of axes and branches 25–60 µm in length; segments below uppermost uniseriate segments with 1–3(–5) longitudinal divisions in side view, each section 5–12 µm wide. Secondary transverse cell walls within longitudinal divided sections not present. Phaeophycean hairs often present.

Propagules tribuliform, borne on pedicels of 1–3 cells, 90–130 µm long by 80–110 µm wide, upper end with 1 central apical cell and 2 large lateral apical cells, slightly protruding to somewhat apparent conical horns.

HABITAT. On rocks or epiphytic; intertidal.

DISTRIBUTION. Gulf of California: Playa Santa Teresa to Puerto Peñasco; Bahía Concepción to Isla San Diego. Pacific coast: Guerrero to Oaxaca; Isla Socorro (Islas Revillagigedo); Hawaiian Islands; Japan.

TYPE LOCALITY. La Spezia (Spèsa), on the Ligurian Sea, northern Italy.