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Rhodophyta · Red Seaweed

Mazzaella phyllocarpa

(Postels & Ruprecht) Perestenko
Phylum
Rhodophyta
Class
Florideophyceae
Order
Gigartinales
Family
Gigartinaceae

Mazzaella phyllocarpa

Northern mazza weed

Authority
(Postels & Ruprecht) Perestenko
Thallus is usually burgundy red, somewhat rubbery, not iridescent, to 15 cm (6 in) tall and nearly as wide. Blades are deeply cleft into irregular, often pointed lobes. Reproductive blades have large cystocarps 4 mm (0.16 in) in diameter bulging from the blade surface.

Habitat

This species grows on rock in the low intertidal, often in tidepools, of semi-protected to semi-exposed habitats; it also occurs subtidally.

North Pacific Distribution

Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, Alaska to northern British Columbia; Russia

Former scientific names

Iridaea phyllocarpa, Chondrus phyllocarpus, Rhodoglossum phyllocarpum, Gigartina phyllocarpa, Iridaea lilacina, Mazzaella lilacina; misidentified as Iridaea heterocarpa

Similar taxa

Mazzaella oregona, M. parvula, M. parksii

References

Last updated December 26, 2010

Photos