''Schmitzia hiscockiana'' is a small, rare, red seaweed or marine alga of the phylum Rhodophyta or red algae. It was discovered and named in 1985.

Distribution

This small red marine

alga Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

is known from most coasts of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

Habitat

This species is known only from the

sublittoral The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal area ...

zone to 15m depth; it grows on cobbles and pebbles. The gametophyte plants exist between April and August, and are in the crustose phase from September to December.

Species description

The

gametophyte A gametophyte () is one of the two alternating multicellular phases in the life cycles of plants and algae. It is a haploid multicellular organism that develops from a haploid spore that has one set of chromosomes. The gametophyte is the ...

phase is a soft and gelatinous plant, no more than 8 cm long, 6 cm wide and a few millimeters thick. It is flattened and divided in a leaf-like manner with marginal proliferations. Rose pink in colour, the blades are composed of a filamentous axis bearing whorls of branchlets, four or five per axial cell. These whorls of branchlets form a cortex.

Life history

The plants are monoecious, bearing spermatia and carpogonia. After fertilization and development of connecting filaments and fusion with intercalary vegetative cells, a carposporphyte develops. The

tetrasporophyte The tetrasporaphyte is a phase in the life history of algae which bear tetrasporangia. This phase is usually morphologically similar to the gametophyte A gametophyte () is one of the two alternating multicellular phases in the life cycles of p ...

phase is crustose and unknown in the wild. It is bright red and grows to 6 mm in diameter and composed of a single basal layer of cells which produce erect filaments some of which produce tetraspores. These tetraspores develop and grow to give rise to the gametophyte generations.Maggs, C.A. and Guiry, M.D. 1985. Life history and reproduction of ''Schmitzia hiscockiana'' sp.nov. (Rhodophyta, Gigartinales) from the British Isles. ''Phycologia'' 24: 297 – 310

Similar species

Other species of ''Schmitzia'' are distinct. ''S. neapolitana'' from the North Atlantic and

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

is always terete. ''S. hiscockiana'' is easily recognizable: it more closely resembles ''S. evanescens'' (

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

) and ''S. japonica'' ( Japan and Australia).

References

External links

Schmitzia hiscockiana Maggs et Guiry
HabitasOnline, A National Museums Northern Ireland Website
Schmitzia hiscockiana Maggs & Guiry
Description and pictures from Michael Guiry's Seaweed Site. {{Taxonbar, from=Q7431838 Gigartinales Species described in 1985