Biodiversity & Conservation

A red seaweed - Chondria coerulescens - General information

Chondria coerulescens

Image Alan Thurbon - Chondria coerulescens. Image width ca XX cm.
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Distribution map

Chondria coerulescens recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

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Chondria coerulescens is not listed under any importance categories.

General information

Key Icon Researched by: Rose Edwards Text page icon Refereed by:

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy

Phylum Rhodophyta Red seaweeds
Class Rhodophyta Red seaweeds
Map icon Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland Recorded from the Salcombe Estuary, The Isle of Wight, Milford Haven, Exmouth and Portsmouth.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Chondria coerulescens is a subtidal species, growing on pebbles in mud from extreme low water to 4 m depth. It inhabits extremely wave sheltered sites, usually in inlets with moderate to strong current exposure.
Text page icon Description Chondria coerulescens has bluish or yellowish fronds with blue iridescence. The fronds are flexible and cartilaginous in texture, turning black when dry. Young axes show a striking turquoise iridescence when alive. The thalli consist of cylindrical erect axes or trailing tufts, and is 3-8 cm high when erect. The distinct main axis is 0.4-0.5 mm in diameter, branching sparsely at irregular intervals in a spiral pattern to 1-3 orders of branching. Branches are linear, often long and curve downwards gradually tapering to a slender point, and reattach by secondary holdfast. The morphology shows relatively little variation except that some thalli consist only of inconspicuous isolated erect axes whereas others form dense tufts.

This review can be cited as follows:

Rose Edwards 2005. Chondria coerulescens. A red seaweed. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 03/09/2010]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=2968>