Feldmannia irregularis

Feldmannia irregularis (Kützing) Hamel

Ectocarpus irregularis Kützing, 1845:234; Kützing, 1855:19, pl. 62: fig. 1 [note: illustration redrawn by Kim and Lee, 1994: fig. 4A]; Dawson 1954a:3; Dawson, 1961b:385; González-González et al., 1996:149; Yoshida, 1998:168.

Feldmannia irregularis (Kützing) Hamel, 1939b:xvii, fig. 61f; Cardinal, 1964:54, fig. 29A–K; Hollenberg, 1970:61, fig. 1; Hollenberg, 1971:285; Abbott and Hollenberg, 1976:136, fig. 99; Stewart, 1991:39; Kim and Lee, 1994:154, figs. 1A,B, 2AߝC, 3A–K, 4A,B; González-González et al., 1996:296; Abbott and Huisman, 2004:159, fig. 58A; Mateo-Cid et al., 2006:49; Servière-Zaragoza et al., 2007:8; Pedroche et al., 2008:20.

Giffordia irregularis (Kützing) Joly, 1965:72, pl. VIII: figs. 111–119.

Hincksia irregularis (Kützing) Amsler in Schneider et Searles, 1991:120, figs. 129–131.

Ectocarpus mucronatus De A. Saunders, 1898:152, pl. 19; Setchell and Gardner, 1925:429; Dawson, 1944:220; Dawson, 1961b:385; Dawson, 1966a:9; González-González et al., 1996:149.

Algae small, slender tufted thalli, up to 3 mm tall, of erect, loosely intertwined filaments that become elongated

and taper slightly toward apices (terminal hairlike appearance due to elongated cells with fewer chloroplasts); attached below by a prostrate system of entangled rhizoidal filaments. Axes often sparse and irregularly branched several times below the intercalary meristematic zone (meristem shifts upward toward the lower-middle portion of the filament as it grows, obscuring its original basal position). Cells 18–20 µm in diameter; 0.5–1.0 times as long as wide in meristematic zone; 1–3 times as long as wide in lower portions and 2–5 times as long as wide in upper portions.

Unilocular sporangia unknown in Gulf material. Plurilocular sporangia sessile on branches below meristematic zone; elongate-conical, 90–150 µm long and 20–35 µm in diameter, often with attenuated apices.

HABITAT. Epizoic on the black sea turtle (Chelonia mydas agassizii; see Parham and Zug, 1996), epiphytic on Sargassum and probably other algae, and growing on rocks; mid intertidal to shallow subtidal.

DISTRIBUTION. Gulf of California: Puerto Peñasco; Canal de Infiernillo (between coast of Sonora and Isla Tiburón). Pacific coast: British Columbia to Oregon; southern California to Baja California; Isla San Benedicto (Islas Revillagigedo); Hawaiian Islands; Japan; China.

TYPE LOCALITY. On Laurencia obtusa, Adriatic Sea.