Gloiosiphonia capillaris (Hudson) Carmichael
Also known as Sticky Tube Weed.
Description: Mucilaginous but firm, to 350 mm long and 5
mm wide. Arising from a crustose, expanded base probably
producing erect axes repeatedly. Major branching irregularly
alternate, generally with a shorter opposite branch, becoming
pyramidal in outline. Branches narrowing gradually at both ends.
Ultimate branches noticeably banded. Plants monoecious, forming
sunken but swollen cystocarps. Tetrasporangia formed on crustose
plants; terminal, obliquely or irregularly cruciately
divided.
Habitat: Growing or rock in pools in the lower intertidal
and in the subtidal to 5 m. Generally occurring between April
and August, but occasionally found at other times.
Distribution: Widely distributed in the NE
Atlantic from Norway and Sweden south to Spain and Portugal.
Said to have a south-western distribution in Britain and
Ireland, but is widely distributed, if sporadic and genuinely
rare. Also known from the N Pacific. Records elsewhere require
reassessment.
Similar species:
Lomentaria clavellosa
which is less mucilaginous, regularly pinnately branched, is
generally compressed, and does not have banded laterals.
Photograph: Cornwall © David Fenwick.
www.aphotomarine.com
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