Blue-Green Algae
(pages in process)
This page links some of the marine algae species we photographed in the Marshall Islands, mostly at Kwajalein Atoll. The marine algae are typically divided into three phyla, the Rhodophyta (red algae), Ochrophyta (brown algae) and Chlorophyta (green algae). In addition, there are a couple of other groups often included with the algae, although quite different taxonomically: the Tracheophyta (sea grasses) and Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). The colors of the algae species do not necessarily match the colors of the group names. These pages present only a fraction of the algae species known from the Marshalls; a longer listing from Enewetak Atoll can be found in Tsuda (1987). Resources used to identify algae species included Littler & Littler (2003) and Magruder & Hunt (1979), as well as various websites. Even with these useful references, however, the variability in morphology of many algae species makes them difficult to positively identify based solely on photographs and forced us to make numerous guesses, so species are often identified here only tentatively. We are grateful to Dr. Stefano Draisma for suggestions on several of the Caulerpa species and welcome any other corrections or comments at uwkwaj@yahoo.com.
Blue-Green Algae (pages in process) |
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