Ulva lactuca
| Ulva lactuca | |
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| Species: | U. lactuca
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| Ulva lactuca | |
Ulva lactuca Linnaeus, a green alga in the Division Chlorophyta, is the type species of the genus Ulva and also known as sea lettuce.
Description
Ulva lactuca may reach 1 m in length, though usually it is much less, and up to 30 cm across with a broad, crumpled or ruffled frond that is soft, translucent and membranous. It is attached to rock via a small disc-shaped hold-fast (Burrows, 1991 p.94).[1] Green to dark green in color. This Chlorophyte is a sheet-forming alga composed of two layers of cells irregularly arranged, as seen in cross section. The chloroplast is cup-shaped with 1 to 3 pyrenoids. Ulva, among other green algae is very prolific in areas were there are lots of nutrients available.
Ulva lactuca is very common on rocks and on other algae in the littoral and sublittoral on shores all around the British Isles (Hardy and Guiry 2006) [2], with a world-wide distribution. There are other species of Ulva which are similar and not always easy to differentiate.
References
Further references
- Hayden, H.S., Blomster, J., Maggs, C.A., Silva, P.C., Stanhope, M.J. and Waaland, J.R. 2003. Linnaeus was right all along: Ulva and Enteromorpha are not distinct genera. Eur. J. Phycol. 38: 277 - 294.
External links
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