|
Description: |
Plants mostly free floating, sometimes attached to rocks and shells; plant body filamentous, less than 20 cm long, bright green to yellowish green in colour, filaments wiry and stiff, unbranched; cell walls thick, appear jointed or articulated with dark green bands; cells constricted at the transverse walls. Original publication: Kützing, F.T. (1845). Phycologia germanica, d. i. Deutschlands Algen in bündigen Beschreibungen. Nebst einer Anleitung zum Untersuchen und Bestimmen dieser Gewächse für Anfänger. pp. i-x, 1-340. Nordhausen: W. Köhne.
 Download PDF from Algaebase
Chaetomorpha linum is a delicate green seaweed. Also known as spaghetti algae, it grows as a filamentous loosely entangled mass. Usually free-floating, it may also be attached to rocks and shells. The filaments themselves are unbranched and usually between 5 and 30 cm in length. The unattached filaments are wiry, stiff and curled in appearance. It is bright light to dark green in colour. Bright green seaweed up to 30cm long.Loosely entangled unattached filaments.Filaments are stiff and curled.Cylindrical or slightly swollen cells.Cells up to 0.4 mm in diameter, 0.8 mm in length.Spaghetti algae, though not palatable to many herbivorous species, is popular in reef aquariums for its ability to remove nitrates, assist in buffering pH, uptake carbon dioxide producing oxygen, and assist in balancing trace elements. It also provides hiding spaces for small creatures. Link for MarLIN |
| Name History |
Adjective (Latin), flax (Lewis & Short 1890). |
| Biogeography |
Widespread, including N. Europe. In southern Australia, from Walpole Inlet, W Australia to Tasmania |
| Life Cycle |
Chaetomorpha linum is one of the more delicate forms of green alga. It resembles straight green or yellowish hair, sometimes white towards the ends of the filaments if spores or gametes have been released; filaments are unbranched, usually between 5 and 30 cm (2 - 12 in) long,and frequently grow in groups of hundreds or thousands of individuals in sandy area on rocks or around tide pool; plant composed of loosely entangled, unattached filaments, yellowish green, somewhat stiff and curled; cylindrical or the cells slightly swollen, 100 - 375 µ diam., 1 - 2 (0.75 - 5.0) diameters long. |
| References |
Braune, W. (2008). Meeresalgen. Ein Farbbildführer zu den verbreiteten benthischen Grün- Braun- und Rotalgen der Weltmeere. pp. [1]-596, 266 pls. Ruggell: A.R.G. Gantner Verlag. Brodie, J., Maggs, C.A. & John, D.M. (2007). Green seaweeds of Britain and Ireland. pp. [i-v], vi-xii, 1-242, 101 figs. London: British Phycological Society. Burrows, E.M. (1991). Seaweeds of the British Isles. Volume 2. Chlorophyta. pp. xi + 238, 60 figs, 9 plates. London: Natural History Museum Publications. Dawes, C.J. & Mathieson, A.C. (2008). The seaweeds of Florida. pp. [i]- viii, [1]-591, [592], pls I-LI. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. Day, S.A., Wickham, R.P., Entwisle, T.J. & Tyler, P.A. (1995). Bibliographic check-list of non-marine algae in Australia. Flora of Australia Supplementary Series 4: vii + 276. Hanyuda, T., Wakana, I., Arai, S., Miyaji, K., Watano, Y. & Ueda, K. (2002). Phylogenetic relationships within Cladophorales (Ulvophyceae, Chlorophyta) inferred from 18S rRNA gene sequences with special reference to Aegagropila linnaei. Journal of Phycology 38: 564-571. John, D.M. (2002). Order Cladophorales (=Siphonocladales). In: The Freshwater Algal Flora of the British Isles. An identification guide to freshwater and terrestrial algae. (John, D.M., Whitton, B.A. & Brook, A.J. Eds), pp. 468-470. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Norris, J.N. (2010). Marine algae of the Northern Gulf of California: Chlorophyta and Phaeophyceae. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 94: i-x, 1-276. Pedroche, F.F., Silva, P.C., Aguilar-Rosas, L.E., Dreckmann, K.M. & Aguilar-Rosas, R. (2005). Catálogo de las algas marinas bentónicas del Pacífico de México. I. Chlorophycota. pp. i-viii, 17-146. Ensenada, México: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. Silva, P.C., Basson, P.W. & Moe, R.L. (1996). Catalogue of the benthic marine algae of the Indian Ocean. University of California Publications in Botany 79: 1-1259. Skelton, P.A. & South, G.R. (2007). The benthic marine algae of the Samoan Archipelago, South Pacific, with emphasis on the Apia District. Nova Hedwigia Beihefte 132: 1-350. |
| Habitat: |
Is an intertidal and supralittoral species that can be found in groups of hundreds or thousands of individuals in sandy areas, on rocks or around tide pools. |
| Type information: |
Basionym: Conferva linum O.F.Müller Type locality: Nakskov Fjord, Lolland, Denmark (Lipkin & Silva 2002: 55). Notes: According to Womersley (1984: 176) the type is from Lolland, Denmark and is probably lost. Syntypes: Nakskov and Rødby, Denmark (Silva et al. 1996). Nakskov is in the Lolland municipality in Region Sjælland on the western coast of the island of Lolland in south Denmark. Rødby is a town and a former municipality (Danish, kommune) also on the island of Lolland. |
![Download 'Chaetomorpha linum illustration' [Visivel]](/macoi/intra/imagens/download.gif "Download 'Chaetomorpha linum illustration' [Visivel]")