| Gelidiellaceae () |
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sessile; marine; depth range 0 - 47 m |
| Atlantic and Indo-Pacific. |
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Thalli form wiry mats or clumps attached by rhizoids arising from creeping stolons. Colour yellow-brown to greenish brown when inhabiting tidepools or upper intertidal areas with clear and shallow water, and reddish to purple in shaded upper subtidal and lower intertidal areas. Branches erect, decumbent or prostrate, composed of a terete to compressed central axis and pinnately arranged, filiform lateral branchlets (ramuli) which are upcurved and acuminate, 1 to 6 mm long, and generally decrease in length towards the distal portion of the axes. Few lateral branchlets may develop that give rise to second degree ramuli. In fertile plants, swollen stichidia are formed at the apices of the lateral branchlets. Branches up to 9 cm in length (Ref. 80758). |
| Utilized for human consumption as food: prepared as salad, dessert gel, or agar jelly, an ingredient in milk products, jams, marmalades, and ice cream; one of the most important raw materials for the manufacture of agar used in pharmaceutical industries, paints, varnishes, electric bulbs, and photographic films; used as culture medium in bacteriology, agar plates in electrophoresis, and other laboratory uses (Ref. 80758). Maximum depth from Ref. 102167. Inhabits shallow waters of the intertidal and upper subtidal zones. Grows in exposed or shaded areas, attached to calcareous substrates such as coralline rocks, rocks covered by crustose algae, and on sandstones or shells of molluscs. Also found in tidepools with relatively high changes in water temperature, pH, salinity and degree of exposure to air are influenced by tide (Ref. 80758). |
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Not Evaluated (N.E.) Ref. 123251)
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| harmless |
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