Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T14:57:10.519Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Mucilage sheaths of spores of red algae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

A. D. Boney
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, The University, Glasgow G12 8QQ

Extract

If newly released spores of red algae are placed in a suspension of Indian ink in sea water, a clear halo of mucilaginous material will be seen. A similar mucilage cover is also a well-known feature with certain phytoplankton organisms, in which cells of spiny appearance (e.g. freshwater desmids) assume a spherical form in Indian ink when the mucilage cover is also observed (Lund, 1959). The attachment of red algal spores is a process in which mucilage clearly plays some part (Suto, 1950; Nakazawa, 1958; Matsumoto, 1959; Boney, 1966; Linskens, 1966; Moorjani & Jones, 1972; Charters, Neushul & Coon, 1972; Chamberlain & Evans, 1973). Studies on the sinking rate and dispersal of red algal spores have been described (Suto, 1950; Boney, 1965, 1966; Coon, Neushul & Charters, 1972). There appears to be little information on the sizes of the spore mucilage sheaths, and on their likely significance in the planktonic phase of the spore's existence immediately after release. The present work gives the results of an investigation of the spore mucilage of fourteen species of red algae.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boillot, A., 1961. Recherches sur le mode de développement des spores et la formation de la fronde adulte chez les Champiacées (Rhodophycées, Rhodymenialés). Revue générate de botanique, 68, 686719.Google Scholar
Boney, A. D., 1965. Aspects of the biology of the seaweeds of economic importance. Advances in Marine Biology, 3, 105253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boney, A. D., 1966. A biology of marine algae. 216 pp. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Chamberlain, A. H. L. & Evans, L. V., 1973. Aspects of spore production in the red alga Ceramium. Protoplasma, 76, 139–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charters, A. C., Neushul, M. & Coon, D. A., 1972. Effects of water motion on algal spore attachment. Proceedings of the seventh international seaweed symposium, Sapporo, Japan, 1971, ed. K., Nisizawa, 243–7. University of Tokyo Press.Google Scholar
Coon, D. A., Neushul, M. & Charters, A. C, 1972. The settling behaviour of algal spores. Proceedings of the seventh international seaweed symposium, Sapporo, Japan, 1971, ed. K., Nisizawa, 237–42. University of Tokyo Press.Google Scholar
Kylin, H., 1916. Über die Keimung der Florideensporen. Arkiv för botanik, 14, 125.Google Scholar
Linskens, H. F., 1966. Adhäsion von Fortplanzungzellen benthontischer Algen. Planta, 68, 99110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lund, J. W. G., 1959. Buoyancy in relation to the ecology of freshwater phytoplankton. British Phycological Bulletin, 1 (7), 117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matsumoto, M., 1959. Effects of environmental factors on the growth of nori (Porphyra tenera Kjellman.) with special reference to water current. Memoirs of the Department of Fisheries and Veterinary Science, Hiroshima University, 2, 249333.Google Scholar
Mccully, M., 1966. Histological studies on the genus Fucus. II. Light microscopy of the mature vegetative plant. Protoplasma, 62, 287305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mccully, M., 1968. Histological studies on the genus Fucus. III. Fine structure and possible functions of epidermal cells of the vegetative thallus. Journal of Cell Science, 3, 116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moorjani, S. & Jones, W. E., 1972. Spore attachment and development in some coralline algae. British Phycological Journal, 7, 282.Google Scholar
Nakazawa, S., 1958. The predetermined polarity in Porphyra monospores shed from Conchocelis thalli. Botanical Magazine, Tokyo, 71, 144–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smayda, T. J., 1970. The suspension and sinking of phytoplankton in the sea. Oceanography and Marine Biology Annual Review, 8, 353414.Google Scholar
Suto, S., 1950. Studies on the shedding, swimming and fixing of spores of seaweeds. Bulletin of the Japanese Society of Scientific Fisheries, 16, 19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar