Biodiversity & Conservation

A red seaweed - Chondria coerulescens

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)

Why do the maps differ?

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Chondria coerulescens is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Rhodophyta Red seaweeds
Class Florideophyceae
Authority (J Agardh) Falkenberg
Recent synonyms None
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.
Identifying features
  • Small species, up to 8 cm high.
  • Branched cylindrical axes.
  • Distinctive bright blue iridescence.
  • Sparsely branched at irregular intervals in a spiral pattern.
Additional information icon Additional information Chondria coerulescens may be confused with Laurencia obtusa. Microscope examination of the periaxial (surrounding the axis) cells would be needed to separate them. Although Chondria coerulescens is nationally rare, it can be abundant in favourable habitats.

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 04/02/2012]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=2968>