Download (6Mb) - USP Electronic Research Repository - The ...

Benthic Marine Algae of Rotuma Island 383
Habitat and Remarks
-
Pound on the back reef, in relatively protected sandy locations, often mixed with other
Caulerpa varieties.
Codiaceae
Codium Stackhouse 1797
Key to the Rotuqan Species of Codium
1. Thallus aplanate and convoluted ............................................ C. arabicum
1: Thallus terete or globular, not convoluted ............................................. .2
2. Thallus terete. ...................................................... C. bulbopilium
2: Thallus globular. ........................................................... C. sp.
Codium arabicum Kiitzing 1856: 35, pl. 100, fig. 2 (type locality: Tor, Sinai Peninsula,
Gulf of Suez, Egypt); Egerod 1952: 382, pl. 34b, figs 11-13; Dawson 1956: 38, fig. 24;
1957: 107; Trono 1968: 190, pl. 15, fig. 4; Valet 1968; Trono 1973: 221; 1973c: 13, fig. 5;
1986: 24, fig. 25; Jaasund 1976: 33, fig. 66; Tsuda and Wray 1977: 96; Magruder and Hunt
1979: 25; Jones and Kraft 1984: 255, figs 1-2; Dong and Tseng 1984: 296, pl. 147, fig. 2;
Payri and Meinesz 1985a: 509; Heijs 1987: 147; Lewis 1987: 17; Lewis and Norris 1987: 8;
Silva et al. 1987: 11 1; Garrigue and Tsuda 1988: 59; Abbott 1989: 225; Yoshida et al. 1990:
274; Coppejans and Prud'homme van Reine 1992a: 50; Verheij and Prud'homme van Reine
1993: 127, pl. 3, fig. 5; Millar and Kraft 1994b: 432.
Codium coronatum Setchell 1926: 82, pl. 10, figs 2-5; pl. 11, figs 2, 3, pl. 12, figs 1, 5 (type
locality: Ame Reef, Tahiti); Gilbert 1947: 123; 1961: 442; Payri and Meinesz 1985a: 509.
Codium adhaerens (misapplied name; vide Silva et al. 1987); Dickie 1876: 243; Okamura
1915(1913-1915): 140, pl. 134, figs 1-3; Yamada and Tanaka 1938: 63; Gilbert 1946: 78;
1947: 123; Durairatnam 1961: 22, pl. IV, fig. 1; Gilbert 1961: 442; Chapman 1977: 162;
Lewis 1987: 17; Lewis and Norris 1987: 8; Tsuda 1991: 42.
(Figs 41,43,59)
Thallus applanate and dorsiventral, up to 15 cm broad and 1 cm thick; dark green and
adhering strongly to the substratum. Orbicular excrescences present, with older plants
assuming a convoluted habit. Medullary filaments 17-23 Km in diameter; peripheral utricles
clavate to pyriform, 58-88 km broad and 380-500 p,m long, with rounded apices.
Distribution
Fiji, New Caledonia, Marshall Islands, Caroline Islands, Tahiti, Papua New Guinea,
Australia, Lord Howe Island, Hawaii, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, China, Ceylon,
Tanzania.
Fijian Records
Chapman 1971: 165 (as C. adhaerens); Kasahara 1985: 14, pl. 1, fig. 3 (as C. coronatum
var. aggregata Btirgesen); South and Kasahara 1992: 50 (listed as both C. coronatum and
C. arabicum).
Rotuman Distribution
Lopta (L20/ USP 410), Tua'koi (T7/ USP 409).
Habitat and Remarks
Found on the middle reef, sometimes covering large areas of coral rubble exposed at low
tide (e.g. at Lopta, where it is the dominant cover in some places).