Sublittoral and deep-water red and brown algae new from the Canary Islands

Abstract

Nine species of sublittoral and deep-water red and brown algae are reported from the Canary Islands for the first time. The reports of the Western Atlantic species Gloiocladia atlantica (Searles) R. E. Norris and Rosenvingea antillarum (P. et H. Crouan) M. J. Wynne are the first from the Eastern Atlantic Ocean. The presence of Feldmannophycus rayssiae (J. et G. Feldmann) Augier et Boudouresque, Fauchea repens (C. Agardh) Montagne et Bory and Halichrysis depressa (J. Agardh) F. Schmitz, previously known from the Mediterranean Sea and the adjacent Atlantic coasts, place their southernmost known limit of distribution in the Canary Islands. Stypopodium schimperi (Buchinger ex Kçtzing) Verlaque et Boudouresque is reported for the first time in the Atlantic Ocean, although it is present in the Mediterranean Sea, probably as a Lessepsian species. The records of the widely distributed Stylonema cornu-cervi Reinsch, Acrochaetium infestans M. Howe et Hoyt and Spatoglossum schroederi (C. Agardh) Kçtzing were not unexpected. Data concerning morphology, habitat and geographical distribution of these species are presented. Observations on the scantly documented sublittoral species Schimmelmannia schousboei(J. Agardh) J. Agardh and Dictyopteris plagiogramma (Montagne) Vickers are also given. In the dioecious Schimmelmannia schousboei, which has been formerly accepted as a doubtful record for the Canary Islands, the reproductive morphology is described including the previously unreported spermatangia. Dictyopteris plagiogramma was recently included in a checklist of Canarian species of Dictyopteris and is discussed in detail here.