''Codium'' is a genus of

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of ''Rhodophyta'' (red), '' Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such a ...

in the

Chlorophyta Chlorophyta or Prasinophyta is a taxon of green algae informally called chlorophytes. The name is used in two very different senses, so care is needed to determine the use by a particular author. In older classification systems, it refers to a ...

of the order

Bryopsidales Bryopsidales is an order of green algae, in the class Ulvophyceae. Characteristics The thallus is filamentous and much branched and may be packed into a mass. It is coenocytic, having multi-nucleate cells consisting of cytoplasm contained with ...

Paul Silva Paul Claude Silva (October 31, 1922 – June 12, 2014) was a phycologist, marine biologist, and algal taxonomist considered to be the world's leading expert in the chlorophyte green algal genus '' Codium''. Silva was also an expert in botanical ...

was an expert on the genus ''Codium'' taxonomy at the University of California, Berkeley. There are about 50 species worldwide.

Description

The genus has

thalli Thallus (plural: thalli), from Latinized Greek (), meaning "a green shoot" or "twig", is the vegetative tissue of some organisms in diverse groups such as algae, fungi, some liverworts, lichens, and the Myxogastria. Many of these organisms were ...

of two forms, either erect or prostrate. The erect plants are dichotomously branched to long with branches forming a compact spongy structure, not calcareous. The final branches form a surface layer of close palisade cortex of utricles. The non-erect species form either a prostrate or globular thallus with a velvet-like surface, the final branches forming a close cortex of utricles.

Distribution

Ireland

Two of these species are very rare in Ireland. ''

Codium adhaerens ''Codium'' is a genus of seaweed in the Chlorophyta of the order Bryopsidales. Paul Silva was an expert on the genus ''Codium'' taxonomy at the University of California, Berkeley. There are about 50 species worldwide. Description The genus has ...

'' has been recorded from a few sites on the west coast and from

Tory Island Tory Island, or simply Tory (officially known by its Irish name ''Toraigh''),Toraigh/Tory Island

County Donegal. In 1837 it was found in Church Bay in

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population of ...

,Morton,O. 1994. ''Marine Algae of Northern Ireland.'' Ulster Museum. but has not been found there since. * ''

'' C.Agardh * ''

Codium bursa ''Codium bursa'' is a green marine algae of medium size. Description ''Codium bursa'' is a marine alga growing to 30 cm across. It generally appears as a spongy sphere of utricles which at the surface form a cortex. It is composed of loos ...

'' ( Linnaeus) C.Agardh - has been found in

Mulroy Bay Mulroy Bay ( ga, Cuan na Maoil Ruaidh) is a relatively small bay / sea loch on the north coast of County Donegal, Ireland. Mulroy Bay is the most convoluted of the marine inlets in north-west Ireland. It is approximately 12 km long in a n ...

in County Donegal in 1977 (specimen in the

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasure ...

) and 1988. There is an old record of it from "near

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

" between 1793 and 1810. * ''

Codium fragile ''Codium fragile'', known commonly as green sea fingers, dead man's fingers, felty fingers,
Intertidal ...

'' ( Suringar) Hariot ** ''Codium fragile'' subsp. ''atlanticum'' ( A. Cotton)

Silva Silva is a surname in Portuguese-speaking countries, such as Portugal and Brazil. It is derived from the Latin word , meaning "forest" or "woodland". It is the family name of the House of Silva. The name is also widespread in Galician-speakin ...

* ''

Codium tomentosum ''Codium tomentosum'' is a species of green seaweed in the family Codiaceae. Its common names include velvet horn and spongeweed. Description The holdfast of ''C. tomentosum'' is saucer-shaped and has closely woven strands giving it a unif ...

'' Stackhouse * '' Codium vermilara'' ( Olivi) Delle Chiaje There are other species of "doubtful validity":- '' Codium amphibium'' is included in William Henry Harvey's '' Phycologia Britannica'' Pl.xxxv. and noted as: "spreading in patches of great extent along the edge of the sea, over the surface of a turf-

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

which meets the shore at Roundstone Bay" (Ireland).

Worldwide

* '' Codium arabicum'' Kütz. - Australia * '' Codium arenicola'' Chacana & P.C.Silva - Australia * '' Codium australasicum'' P.C.Silva - Australia * '' Codium bulbopilum'' Setch. - Australia * '' Codium capitulatum'' P.C.Silva &

Womersley Womersley is a village in the Selby District, in the English county of North Yorkshire. The parish population at the 2011 census (including Stapleton and Walden Stubbs) was 515. It is near the towns of Selby, Askern and Pontefract. It is clos ...

- Australia * '' Codium convolutum'' (Dellow) P.C.Silva - New Zealand * '' Codium cuneatum'' S. & G. - California ( United States) * '' Codium duthiae''

- Australia, Tasmania, and South Africa * '' Codium dwarkense'' Børgesen - Australia *'' Codium edule -'' Indo-Pacific, including Hawaii * '' Codium extricatum''

Cape Agulhas Cape Agulhas (; pt, Cabo das Agulhas , "Cape of the Needles") is a rocky headland in Western Cape, South Africa. It is the geographic southern tip of the African continent and the beginning of the dividing line between the Atlantic and Indi ...

to southern KwaZulu-Natal * ''

Codium fragile ''Codium fragile'', known commonly as green sea fingers, dead man's fingers, felty fingers,
Intertidal ...

'' ( Suringar) Hariot - Nova Scotia ( Canada) ** ''Codium fragile'' Sui song - (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...

) Food and food products from seaweeds Japan, American Pacific from

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramír ...

, Australia and New Zealand,

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

, Norway, Denmark, and Netherlands ** ''Codium fragile'' subsp. ''capense''

- South Africa * '' Codium galeatum'' J.Agardh - Australia * '' Codium geppiorum'' O.C.Schmidt - Australia and Indo-Pacific South Africa * '' Codium harveyi'' P.C.Silva - Australia * '' Codium hubbsii'' Daws. - California (U.S.A.) * '' Codium intertextum'' Collins & Hervey * '' Codium isthmocladum'' Vickers * '' Codium johnstonei''

- California (U.S.A.) * '' Codium laminarioides'' Harv. - Australia * ''

Codium lucasii ''Codium lucasii'' is a species of seaweed in the family Codiaceae. The firm dark green applanate thallus is usually around thick and wide. It is found in the lower eulittoral and upper sublittoral zone in rough to moderate water coasts. In ...

'' Setchell - Australia, Tasmania * '' Codium mamillosum'' Harv. - Australia * '' Codium muelleri'' Kütz. - Australia * '' Codium perriniae'' A.H.S.Lucas - Australia * '' Codium pomoides'' J.Agardh - Australia * '' Codium setchellii'' Gardn. - California (U.S.A.) * '' Codium silvae''

- Australia * '' Codium spinescens'' P.C.Silva &

- Australia * ''

Codium spongiosum ''Codium spongiosum'' is a species of seaweed in the family Codiaceae. The light-green thallus has an applanate to pulvinate habit and is usually around across and thick. It has irregular lobes and moderately firm while alive becoming more sp ...

'' Harv. - Australia * '' Codium strangulatum'' Chacana & P.C.Silva - Australia * '' Codium taylorii''

- Australia * '' Codium repens'' ( P.Crouan & H.Crouan) Vickers * '' Codium tenue'' ( Kütz.) Kütz. - Australia * ''

'' Stackh. - Australia

References

General references

* * * * * * * *

External links

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1143304 Ulvophyceae genera Marine biota of Africa Marine biota of Europe Marine biota of North America Taxa named by John Stackhouse