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Chlorophyta · Green Seaweed

Monostroma sp.

Phylum
Chlorophyta
Class
Ulvophyceae
Order
Ulotrichales
Family
Monostromataceae

Monostroma sp.

Sea cellophane

A young thallus starts out as a sac and as it matures splits and forms a blade to 30 cm (12 in) tall. The delicate, light green to medium green and transparent blade is due to a single layer of cells creating a blade only 30 μm thick. Cells are ~16 μm on a side.

Habitat

This species occurs in the spring on protected and semi-protected coasts and can grow epiphytically on other seaweeds such as Fucus.

North Pacific Distribution

Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, Alaska to Monterey County, California; Korea; Japan; Russia

Former scientific names

misidentified as Monostroma grevillei, Monostroma arcticum

Similar taxa

Kornmannia, Protomonostroma, Ulvaria

References

Last updated December 26, 2010

Photos