Hildenbrandia rubra
Scientific classification Edit this classification
(unranked): Archaeplastida
Division: Rhodophyta
Class: Florideophyceae
Order: Hildenbrandiales
Family: Hildenbrandiaceae
Genus: Hildenbrandia
Species:
H. rubra
Binomial name
Hildenbrandia rubra

Hildenbrandia rubra is a marine species of thalloid red alga. It forms thin reddish crusts on rocks and pebbles in the intertidal zone and the shallow subtidal zone. It is a common species with a cosmopolitan distribution, and is able to tolerate a wide range of conditions.

Description

This alga forms patches or larger sheets of thallus less than 0.5 mm (0.02 in) thick tightly attached to the substrate. The thallus is formed from a single layer of undifferentiated cells some 3 to 6 µm in diameter, arranged in rows. The surface is smooth and flat apart from slight mounds indicating the presence of conceptacles (specialized cavities containing the reproductive organs). The colour is pinkish-red or reddish-brown.[2][3]

Distribution and habitat

Hildenbrandia rubra has a cosmopolitan distribution. Its range includes the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, from Spitsbergen to the Mediterranean Sea and most of the western coasts of Africa, and the northwestern Atlantic from Maine to the Caribbean Sea, and the coasts of Brazil and Uruguay. It is also present in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is abundant and occurs in the littoral zone and the shallow subtidal zone, on rocks and pebbles, on shell debris, under seaweeds, in crevices and in caves.[3]

Ecology

Like other algae, Hildenbrandia rubra is an autotroph, using photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide and water into the organic compounds needed for maintenance and growth.[3] Reproduction occurs when tetraspores that are formed in the conceptacles, mature and are released; the conceptacles grow larger each time this process occurs.[4] Although many limpets are generalist grazers on microflora and detritus on rock surfaces, or on larger seaweeds, the giant limpet Cymbula sanguinans has a particular affinity for and dependence on Hildenbrandia rubra.[5]

Hildenbrandia rubra is a very tolerant species, able to grow in a wide variety of salinities, temperatures and light conditions.[3] In an experiment it was exposed successively to freezing, desiccation, low salinity and high temperature, but the rate of photosynthesis showed no long term variation; in fact it was the most tolerant species of algae of any of those tested.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Guiry, Michael D. (2015). "Hildenbrandia rubra (Sommerfelt) Meneghini, 1841". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  2. ↑ Guiry, Michael D. "Hildenbrandia rubra (Sommerfelt) Meneghini 1841". AlgaeBase. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Bunel, Nicole; Le Granché, Philippe; Dupré, Catherine (26 October 2017). "Hildenbrandia rubra (Sommerfelt) Meneghini 1841" (in French). DORIS. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  4. ↑ Pueschel, Curt M. (1982). "Ultrastructural observations of tetrasporangia and conceptacles in Hildenbrandia (rhodophyta: Hildenbrandiales)". British Phycological Journal. 17 (3): 333–341. doi:10.1080/00071618200650331.
  5. ↑ Espinosa, F.; Rivera-Ingraham, G.A. (2017). "Hildenbrandia". Advances in Marine Biology: Biological Conservation of Giant Limpets. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  6. ↑ Kwang Young Kim; Garbary, David J. (2006). "Fluorescence responses of photosynthesis to extremes of hyposalinity, freezing and desiccation in the intertidal crust Hildenbrandia rubra (Hildenbrandiales, Rhodophyta)". Phycologia. 45: 680–686. doi:10.2216/05-43.1.
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