Cartilage wrack
| Common cartilage wrack | ||||||||||||
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Cartilage wrack, Heligoland herbarium |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Chondrus crispus | ||||||||||||
| Stackh. |
The (Common) chondrus ( Chondrus crispus ), also known as cartilage moss , Irish moss or Irish moss , ( irländisches ) Perlmoos or carrag ( h ) een algae or -Moos named, is a red alga of the North Atlantic coasts, which is also in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea . It is cultivated to obtain carrageenan .
description
The cartilage wrack has an upright thallus 10 to 15 (rarely 20) centimeters in height. Its color is dark red to purple-brown, sometimes iridescent bluish under water, but mostly greenish-yellow in specimens exposed to strong light in rock stumps. It has grown to the stony ground with a perennial disc, from which tufts of thallus of various ages arise. Its lower stem-like part is round directly above the disc, compressed further up. The thallus gradually widens into a flat, membranous-cartilaginous leaf-like or fan-like part that repeatedly divides into a fork and ends with a rounded top. The alga has a very diverse appearance: if it is strongly branched, it can be reminiscent of a wavy, curly sponge or kale leaves, or if it is less branched it can look flat, leaf-like. Occasionally small protrusions can be found on the edges. The different site conditions are probably decisive for the great variability.
As with most red algae, gametophytes and tetrasporophytes are similar . On the frequently occurring tetrasporophytes, the tetraspores are formed in dark red, flat-wart-shaped spots ( Sori ) in every season . These are released, germinate and grow into male and female gametophytes. On the female gametophytes, recessed oval reproductive organs (cystocarpia) develop in the younger sections of the thallus, which, after the egg cells have been fertilized, envelop the third generation, the carposporophytes . The reproductive cells (carpos pores) are released by degeneration of the cells of the envelope. Tetrasporophytes arise from them again.
Occurrence
The cartilage wrack is widespread on the coasts of the Northeast Atlantic from Norway to Morocco and in the Northwest Atlantic ( North America ). It also occurs in the North Sea and Baltic Sea : in the German Bight on the Heligoland rock shelf , on suitable subsoil also in the North and East Frisian Wadden Sea and in the western and eastern Baltic Sea.
It always grows on stones, from the lower tidal zone to about 20 meters below the low water line , occasionally also in stumps of the middle tidal zone. It can be found in areas with strong waves as well as in calmer water. It appears to be tolerant of fluctuations in salinity and can therefore also thrive in the area of estuaries.
Systematics
The first description of Chondrus crispus was in 1797 by John Stackhouse . It is the type species of the genus Chondrus .
The species was often assigned to other genera, and different forms were also described as new species, so that there are numerous synonyms : Chondrus norvegicus (Gunnerus) Lyngbye, Chondrus platysma Ruprecht, Chondrus variolosus Ruprecht, Fucus crispus Linnaeus, Fucus norvegicus Gunnerus, Fucus lacerus Stackhouse , Fucus patens Goodenough & Woodward, Gigartina heterocarpa (Postel & Ruprecht) DHKim, Gymnogongrus norvegicus (Gunnerus) J.Agardh, Iridaea heterocarpa Postel & Ruprecht, Iridophycus heterocarpus (Postel & Ruprecht) Setchell & NLGardner, Mazzaella heterocarpa (Postel & Ruprecht) Fredericq 1993, Oncotylus norvegicus (Gunnerus) Kützing, Polymorpha aequalis (Goodenough & Woodward) Stackhouse, Polymorpha crispa (Stackhouse) Stackhouse, Polymorpha norvegicus (Gunnerus) Stackhouse, Sphaerococcus crispus f. aequalis (Turner) C. Agardh, Sphaerococcus crispus var. ciliatus Suhr and Sphaerococcus norvegicus (Gunnerus) C. Agardh.
use
Driven cartilage wrack has long been collected as food and animal feed in Ireland and Scotland . When dried, this "Irish moss" or "carrageenan", which was mostly a mixture with the similar kernel kelp Mastocarpus stellatus and other red algae, was used as an expectorant folk remedy for respiratory diseases since the 19th century . Another application for carrageenan moss was in the production of marbled paper as a base (so-called size) for applying the colors.
A small amount of cartilage kelp is still collected in Ireland for cooking and health potions. Colorful varieties are bred in Canada and marketed dried as a new salad.
Today the cartilage kelp is cultivated mainly in Canada and France as an important source for the extraction of the raw material carrageenan . This emulsifier and stabilizer is mainly used in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.
In Germany, a cosmetics series is named after the "Irish moss".
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Wolfram Braune: Marine algae. A color guide to the common benthic green, brown and red algae of the world's oceans . Ruggell: Gantner, 2008, ISBN 978-3-906166-69-8 , pp. 352-355.
- ↑ a b P. Kornmann, PH Sahling: Sea algae from Helgoland - Benthic green, brown and red algae. Biological Institute Helgoland, Hamburg 1983, pp. 201-203. ISSN 0017-9957
- ↑ Dirk Schories, Uwe Selig, Hendrik Schubert: Species and synonym list of the German marine macroalgae based on historical and recent records (list of species and synomes of macroalgae in German coastal waters - evaluation of historical and recent findings) . In: Rostock. Marine biologist Contribution , Issue 21, 2009, p. 83. PDF file
- ↑ a b c Wendy Guiry in Michael D. Guiry, GM Guiry: Chondrus crispus - In: Algaebase - World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway, accessed June 3, 2014
- ↑ a b c Michael Guiry: The Seaweed Site: information on marine algae: Chondrus crispus , accessed June 3, 2014.
- ↑ Carragaheen , Sphaerococcus in: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon , 4th ed. 1885-1892.
- ^ Carragheen moss . In: Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon 1894-1896, Volume 3, pp. 958-959.
