Biodiversity & Conservation

An encrusting coralline alga - Lithophyllum incrustans - General information

Lithophyllum incrustans

Image Francis Bunker - Lithophyllum incrustans. Image width ca 7 cm.
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Distribution map

Lithophyllum incrustans recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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Lithophyllum incrustans is not listed under any importance categories.

General information

Key Icon Researched by: Dr Keith Hiscock Text page icon Refereed by: Dr Yvonne Chamberlain

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy

Phylum Rhodophyta Red seaweeds
Class Rhodophyta Red seaweeds
Map icon Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland Present all around the British Isles but rarer on the east coast between Yorkshire and east Kent. Encrusting coralline species are difficult to distinguish and few surveys record to species level. Its distribution is probably under recorded.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Found on a wide range of hard rock substrata but may be unable to settle and grow well on soft rocks such as chalk, which is a major substratum type in the southeast of England. Present in rockpools and under algae in the littoral and usually covering rocks on the lower shore and sublittoral fringe. More rarely present in the sublittoral although only recorded in the sublittoral on the Sussex and Kent coast (Y. Chamberlain, pers. comm..).
Text page icon Description Calcified smooth pink or greyish pink crusts on rock, shells and holdfasts. Convoluted ridges present where neighbouring crusts meet. May become bleached when exposed to strong sunlight.

This review can be cited as follows:

Dr Keith Hiscock 2003. Lithophyllum incrustans. An encrusting coralline alga. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 24/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=3708>