Halimeda spp. indet.

Fassbender, Nico, Stefanoudis, Paris V, Filander, Zoleka Nontlantla, Gendron, Gilberte, Mah, Christopher L, Mattio, Lydiane, Mortimer, Jeanne A, Moura, Carlos J, Samaai, Toufiek, Samimi-Namin, Kaveh, Wagner, Daniel, Walton, Rowana & Woodall, Lucy C, 2021, Reef benthos of Seychelles - A field guide, Biodiversity Data Journal 9, pp. 65970-65970 : 65970

Halimeda spp. indet.

Materials

Type status: Other material. Taxon: scientificName: Halimeda; kingdom: Plantae; phylum: Chlorophyta; class: Ulvophyceae; order: Bryopsidales; family: Halimedaceae; genus: Halimeda; scientificNameAuthorship: Lamouroux, 1812; Location: waterBody: Indian Ocean; country: Seychelles; locality: Aldabra N 1, Aldabra W 1, Astove W 1, Alphonse N 1, D'Arros N 1, Poivre E 1, Desroches S 1 ; minimumDepthInMeters: 9.5 m; maximumDepthInMeters: 70.4 m; locationRemarks: First Descent : Seychelles Expedition ; Identification : identifiedBy: Nico Fassbender , Lydiane Mattio , Jeanne Mortimer , Paris Stefanoudis ; dateIdentified: 2019, 2020; identificationRemarks: identified only from imagery; Event : samplingProtocol: Submersible OR Remotely Operated Vehicle OR SCUBA; Record Level: basisOfRecord: Human observation

Notes

Conspicuous, cactus-like macroalgae with jointed, disc-like and calcified segments. Individual segments can vary in shape that ranges from round to kidney-, wedge- or even cylindrical-shaped. The thallus anchors to the bottom by a dense tuft of rhizoids which varies in shape depending on the substratum. Dead specimens have been observed to lose their green colour, revealing their white calcium carbonate skeletons. Five species were identified from collections ( Halimeda cylindracea , H. aff. gracilis / H. aff. opuntia , H. minima , H. micronesica , Halimeda sp. indet); however, it was not possible to distinguish between them from underwater images alone (Fig. 5).