Catenella impudica (Montagne) J. Agardh

Ganesan, E. K., West, John A. & Jr, Orlando Necchi, 2018, A catalogue and bibliography of non-marine (freshwater and estuarine) Rhodophyta (red algae) of India, Phytotaxa 364 (1), pp. 1-48 : 28

Catenella impudica (Montagne) J. Agardh

Pal et al. 1988, p. 52; Santra & Pal 1988, p. 39 Pl.XIII, figs 48–51; Sen & Naskar 2003. p.185, Pl. XXII, fig.138, Pl. XXVII; Rath & Adhikary 2006, p. 56, fig. 18; Jadiye 2006, p. 709, fig.1, A–E; Narasimha-Rao & Subbarangiah 2008, p. 65; Narasimha-Rao et al. 2008, p. 71.

Taxonomic synonym: Catenella opuntia (Goodenough & Woodward) Greville : Desikachary et al. 1998, Part II B, p. 146. fig. 54 A. (and not 54. B, C. as given by the authors); Mukhopadhyay & Pal 2002, p. 101, Pl. 1, i–e.

Distribution in India; Andhra Pradesh: (Godavari estuary, vegetative and tetrasporophytes present throughout the year, but female plants from Sep. to May only); Odhisa: (Bhitarkankika mangroves attached to roots and barnacles. Feb.);

Maharashtra: (Alibaug coast on intertidal rocks); West Bengal: (Sundarbans: Gosaba and Sudhanyakhali attached to the roots of halophytic plants; Kushkhali; Bakkhali and Jharkhali on roots and barks in the upper littoral region).

Notes: Silva et al. (1996), based on Post (1936), included several earlier Indian records under the binomials “ C. opuntia ” and “ C. repens ” as misapplied names for C. impudica . We have followed the same proposal here. Among the various reports of C. impudica from India, only the specimens from the coast of Gujarat, Sreenivasa Rao & Kale (1970) show the characteristic feature of this species having a large hapteron of the same size as the segment with an enlarged triangular apex. These haptera are formed mostly from the basal part of the constricted nodes of the creeping main axes. Low water temperature and low salinity have been shown to be correlated to the formation and release of carpospores and tetraspores in C. impudica in Godavary estuary (Narasimha-Rao et al. 2008). Narasimha-Rao & Subbarangiah (2008) showed the plants of C. impudica from Godavari estuary, India can apparently survive and live at 0 ppt salinity, but with lowest values of photosynthesis and respiratory rates.