First Record of Scytosiphon gracilis Kogame (Scytosiphonaceae, Phaeophyceae) for the Pacific coast of Mexico

doi:2006.21.1.11

Algae > Volume 21(1); 2006 > Article

Algae 2006;21(1): 11-13. doi: https://doi.org/10.4490/algae.2006.21.1.011

Raul Aguilar-Rosas¹, Luis E. Aguilar-Rosas², Ga Youn Cho³ and Sung Min Boo³^*

¹Facultad de Ciencias Marinas, Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Apartado Postal 453, 22830, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
²Instituto de Investigaciones Oceanologicas, Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Apartado Postal 453, 22830, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
³Department of Biology, Chungnam National University, Daejon 305-764, Korea

ABSTRACT

In this work we report the occurrence of Scytosiphon gracilis Kogame (Scytosiphonaceae, Phaeophyceae) on the Pacific coast of Mexico. This is the first report of S. gracilis outside its previously known distribution in the western North Pacific (Korea and Japan). The identification was based on a morphological revision and a comparison of the plastid-encoded RuBisCO spacer sequences determined for Korean and Mexican algal material. Thalli were collected from the intertidal zone of Saldamando Beach, Baja California, in January 2003. The vegetative structure, as well as habitat and geographic distribution of the species are described. Reproductive structures were not found in our specimens. The poor presence/absence of S. gracilis in previous floristic studies of the area could be due to its small size and low frequency.

Key words: Brown algae, Pacific Mexico, RuBisCO spacer region, Scytosiphon gracilis, Scytosiphonaceae