Cladophora vagabunda

Cladophora vagabunda (Linnaeus) van den Hoek

Conferva vagabunda Linnaeus, 1753:1167; van den Hoek, 1963: pl. 36: figs. 470, 471 [type illustrations].

Cladophora vagabunda (Linnaeus) van den Hoek, 1963:144, pl. 33: figs. 434, 436–439; pl. 36: figs. 470–490, pl. 37: 491–503, pl. 39: 505–514; Schnetter and Bula Meyer, 1982:26, pl. 3: figs. H, I; van den Hoek, 1982:137, figs. 264–294; Mateo-Cid and Mendoza-Gonzalez, 1991:27; Mateo-Cid and Mendoza-González, 1992:24; Servière-Zaragoza et al., 1993:482; van den Hoek and Chihara, 2000:180, figs. 76–81; L. Aguilar-Rosas et al., 2002:235; Leliaert and Coppejans, 2003:70, figs. 14A,B, 15; Abbott and Huisman, 2004:79, figs. 24A–D; Leliaert, 2004:47, figs. 14A,B, 15; Pedroche et al., 2005:49; Hernández-Herrera et al., 2005:307; Mateo-Cid et al., 2006:58.

Conferva expansa Mertens ex Jürgens, 1817:Decade 5: [exsiccate] No. 8.

Cladophora expansa (Mertens ex Jürgens) Kützing, 1843:265; Chávez B., 1972:268.

Conferva fascicularis Mertens ex C. Agardh, 1824:114.

Cladophora fasicularis (Mertens ex C. Agardh) Kützing, 1843:268; Collins, 1909b:345; Chapman, 1956:447, fig. 98; Sakai, 1964:25, fig. 8A–D, pl. 4: fig. 1; Yoshida, 1998:62.

Cladophora uncinella Harvey, 1860:334; Dawson, 1959b:28; Sakai, 1964:60, fig. 28, pl. 11: fig. 1; Yoshida, 1998:70; van den Hoek and Chihara, 2000:182.

Algae erect tufts, up to 5 cm tall, main axes pseudodichotomously to pseudotrichotomously branched, up to 3 orders; branchlets sometimes straight filaments, but usually clusters of short, secund or recurved branchlets, with relatively straight to curled apical cell ends; attached by branched rhizoids from basal end of lower cells, which may partly coalesce. Main filaments 140–260(–300) µm in diameter and (3–)4–8 times longer than wide; apical cells much smaller, (20–)30–50 µm in diameter and 2–6(–9) times longer than wide. Cell walls of upper cells mostly 1.0–2.0 µm thick; much thicker in lower cells, up to 20 µm thick.

HABITAT. On rocks, limestone-clay ledges, and mudflats and in tide pools, lagoons, and salt marshes; sometimes unattached and floating or may be epiphytic or entangled with other algae or aquatic plants; high to low intertidal.

DISTRIBUTION. Gulf of California: Piedras de La Salina to Puerto Peñasco. Pacific coast: Nayarit to Guerrero; Colombia; Hawaiian Islands; Japan; Korea; China; Vietnam.

TYPE LOCALITY. Selsey, Sussex, England (lectotype; van den Hoek, 1963).

Cladophora vagabunda is a species of marine green algae in the family Cladophoraceae. It has a worldwide distribution.