Articulated Coralline Algae of the Gulf of California, Mexico, I: Amphiroa Lamouroux

SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MARINE SCIENCES • NUMBER 9 Articulated Coralline Algae of the Gulf of California, Mexico, I: Amphiroa Lamouroux James N. Norris and H. William Johansen SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS City of Washington 1981 ABSTRACT Norris, James N., and H. William Johansen. Articulated Coralline Algae of the Gulf of California, Mexico, I: Amphiroa Lamouroux. Smithsonian Contributions to the Marine Sciences, number 9, 29 pages, 18 figures, 1981.—Amphiroa (Coral- linaceae, Rhodophyta) is a tropical and subtropical genus of articulated coralline algae and is prominent in shallow waters of the Gulf of California, Mexico. Taxonomic and distributional investigations of Amphiroa from the Gulf have revealed the presence of seven species: A. beauvoisn Lamouroux, A. brevianceps Dawson, A. magdalensis Dawson, A. misakiensis Yendo, A. ngida Lamouroux, A. valomoides Yendo, and A. van-bosseae Lemoine. Only two of these species names are among the 16 taxa of Amphiroa previously reported from this body of water; all other names are now considered synonyms. Of the seven species in the Gulf of California, A. beauvoisii, A. misakiensis, A. valomoides and A. van-bosseae are common, while A. brevianceps, A. magdalensis, and A. ngida are rare and poorly known. None of these species is endemic to the Gulf, and four of them, A. beauvoisii, A. misakiensis, A. valomoides, and A. ngida, also occur in Japan. OFFICIAL PUBLICATION DATE is handstamped in a limited number of initial copies and is recorded in the Institution's annual report, Smithsonian Year. SERIES COVER DESIGN: Seascape along the Atlantic coast of eastern North America. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Norris, James N. Articulated coralline algae of the Gulf of California, Mexico. (Smithsonian contributions to the marine sciences ; no. 9) Bibliography: p. Includes index Contents: 1. Amphiroa Lamouroux. 1. Corallinaceae. 2. Algae—Mexico—California, Gulf of. I. Johansen, H. William. II. Title. III. Series. QK569.C8N67 589.4'1 81-607063 AACR2 Contents Page Introduction 1 Materials and Methods 2 Acknowledgments 3 Amphiroa Lamouroux, 1812 3 Key to the Species of Amphiroa 5 Amphiroa beauvoisii Lamouroux 6 Amphiroa brevianceps Dawson 12 Amphiroa magdalensis Dawson 13 Amphiroa misakiensis Yendo 15 Amphiroa rigida Lamouroux 19 Amphiroa valomoides Yendo 20 Amphiroa van-bosseae Lemoine 23 Literature Cited 26 Index 29 m Articulated Coralline Algae of the Gulf of California, Mexico, I: Amphiroa Lamouroux James N Norris and H. William Johansen Introduction species, C. pinnatifolia var. digitata Dawson (1953), a small plant distinguished from Amphiroa by its Species of Amphiroa Lamouroux (Corallinaceae; percurrent axes, which are densely clothed with Cryptonemiales) are common in intertidal and lateral branches. Jama Lamouroux, the other ge shallow subtidal zones in tropical and subtropical nus, is represented in the Gulf by four species areas of the world. In the Gulf of California, having delicate fronds composed of branches less Mexico, they are the most prominent articulated than 0.5 mm in diameter. These species have coralline algae; two other coralline genera are regular dichotomous branching and conceptacles found there, Jama Lamouroux and Corallina Lin borne in single swollen chambers at the apices of naeus. The fronds of Amphiroa are purplish, bushy the intergenicula. Whereas, in Amphiroa, the clumps 1 to 12 cm long, or turfs 1 to 2 cm thick. fronds are coarser, branches generally over 1.0 They grow in a variety of habitats, but usually mm in diameter (except in A. valonioides Yendo require at least some degree of wave action. where they are less than 0.5 mm in diameter), A terminology has arisen with respect to artic and usually the dichotomous branching is irreg ulated coralline algae (Johansen, 1974). The ular. Also the conceptacles of Amphiroa are in fronds are made up of numerous jointed branches variably borne on intergenicular surfaces, al consisting of calcified segments called "intergenicula." The intergenicula are separated from one though sometimes they may be nearly invisible, another by uncalcified nodes, or "genicula" (e.g., especially where branches are relatively thick. Figures 2 and 5). Extending through a branch is Amphiroa Lamouroux (1812:187) is a member a core of medullary filaments with the cells in of the subfamily Amphiroideae Johansen (1969a: tiers (e.g., Figure 4), which is surrounded by a 47), tribe Amphiroeae Cabioch (1972:266) (see cortex and epithallus. also, Johansen and Silva, 1978, and Johansen, Of the three genera in the Gulf of California, 1981, for review of supergeneric classification). only Corallina Linnaeus is represented by a single The species are distinguished from one another by the following taxonomic features: frond James N. Norris, Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural height, intergenicular width, intergenicular shape History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560. in cross-section, the number of medullary cell H. William Johansen, Department of Biology, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts 01610. tiers in genicula and plant habit (e.g., turfy, SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MARINE SCIENCES recumbent, or erect and bushy). Although the Lemoine (1929), A. zonata Yendo (1902), and branching is basically dichotomous, it is often seven others, which were described as new, A. irregular and congested, with the branches tend annulata var. pinnata, A. tayloni, A. droueth, A. brev- ing not to lie in one plane. As in other members ianceps, A. magdalensis, A. subcylindnca and A. fran- of the Corallinaceae (e.g., Johansen, 1976a), the ciscana var. robusta. reproductive cells are produced within concepta Shortly thereafter, Dawson (1959) listed the cles which, in Amphiroa, are always borne on the algae collected on a cruise into the southern Gulf surfaces of the intergenicula (Figure 14). Each of California, reporting several species of Amphiroa conceptacle opens by a single pore, through which previously recorded for this region and described the reproductive cells exit. a new variety, A. dimorpha var. digitiformis. Finally, The Gulf of California is a discrete body of Dawson (1966b) extended the known range of water with unique characteristics (van Andel and Amphiroa franciscana Taylor (1945) var. franciscana Shor, 1964, for review), representing the Cortez into the Gulf making a total of 16 taxa of Amphiroa Province of Briggs (1974) or the Gulf of California reported from this body of water. Dawson (1953: biogeographical region of W. H. Adey and R. S. 136-137) however, recognized only 13 species Steneck (pers. comm.); yet none of the species of from the Gulf, noting that Hariot's (1895:169) Amphiroa are now considered endemic to the Gulf. report of A. linearis was probably A. zonata, in Furthermore, four of the species are present in cluded A. rigida in A. subcylindrica, and assigned areas other than the eastern Pacific. Amphiroa specimens previously reported as A. pusilla (Daw beauvoisii (as A. zonata), A. misakiensis, A. rigida, and son, 1944) to A. drouetti, A. dimorpha, and A. zonata. A. valonioides are all present in Japan (Okamura, Later papers reporting taxa of this genus from 1936:515-521; Chihara, 1970:71-72). It is inter the Gulf of California are by Dawson (1966a, esting to note that Dawson (1960:97) found sev 1966b) and Norris (1972). eral non-corallinaceous species, e.g., Pachydictyon conaceum (Holmes) Okamura (Dictyotales), also Our study of the articulated coralline algae common to both the Gulf of California and Ja revealed that in the Gulf of California there are pan. Hommersand (1972) has also suggested a seven species of Amphiroa that can be separated close relationship between the algae of the Gulf on morphological and anatomical bases. After of California and Japan. surveying the described taxa, we conclude that The first report of articulated coralline algae the entities of Gulf Amphiroa are: A. beauvoisii occurring in the Gulf of California was by Hariot Lamouroux, A. brevianceps Dawson, A. magdalensis (1895) who reported Amphiroa linearis Kiitzing Dawson, A. misakiensis Yendo, A. rigida Lamour (1858). It was more than one-half century before oux, A. valomoides Yendo and A. van-bosseae Le another account of Amphiroa was reported in the moine. Four of the seven species in the Gulf, A. Gulf, with Dawson (1944:276-277) reporting beauvoisii, A. misakiensis, A. valonioides and A. van- three species: Amphiroa pusilla Yendo (1902), A. bosseae, are common and represented by many zonata Yendo (1902), and A. rigida Lamouroux collections. The remaining three, A. brevianceps, A. (1816). Of these, the first two were originally magdalensis, and A. rigida, are known only from a described from Japan, and the third from the few collections, and less confidence can be ex Mediterranean Sea. The bulk of information on pressed in defining them. coralline algae from the Gulf of California, and MATERIALS AND METHODS.—Most of the collec the Pacific coast of Mexico, is due to the efforts tions studied were dried or preserved in 5 percent of E. Yale Dawson (1944, 1953). The first detailed Formalin/seawater; individual pieces of the treatment of these algae from the Gulf and Pacific branches were fixed and decalcified in Susa fixa Mexico was Dawson's (1953) report of 11 taxa of tive (Suneson, 1937:5). For anatomical studies, Amphiroa from the Gulf of California: A. annulata material was embedded in paraffin, sectioned (8- NUMBER 9 10 jLim) and stained in Delafield's haematoxylin

Load more