Sporolithon ptychoides
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| Sporolithon ptychoides | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Clade: | Archaeplastida |
| Division: | Rhodophyta |
| Class: | Florideophyceae |
| Order: | Sporolithales |
| Family: | Sporolithaceae |
| Genus: | Sporolithon |
| Species: | S. ptychoides |
| Binomial name | |
| Sporolithon ptychoides Heydrich, 1897 [1] | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Sporolithon ptychoides is a species of crustose red seaweed with a hard, calcareous skeleton in the family Corallinaceae. It has a widespread distribution, being present in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the Mediterranean Sea and the southwestern Atlantic Ocean.
In the southwestern Atlantic off the coast of Brazil, Sporolithon ptychoides forms rhodoliths up to 15 cm (6 in) in diameter. The surface of the rhodolith is crustose in places and knobbly in others. The internal arrangement is monomerous in the crustose portions and radial in the protrusions. The tetrasporangial compartments are grouped together and raised above the surrounding surface, while old, empty compartments become immersed in the thallus;[2] these tend to be aligned in rows. In the southwestern Indian Ocean off the coast of Natal, this species does not form rhodoliths, instead being crustose, with flat or knobbly thallus sometimes loosely and sometimes securely attached to the substrate. The patches are thick and up to 20 cm (8 in) across, with ragged margins and a flaking surface.[3]