Fushitsunagia catenata

D’Archino, Roberta & Zuccarello, Giuseppe C., 2021, Two red macroalgae newly introduced into New Zealand: Pachymeniopsis lanceolata (K. Okamura) Y. Yamada ex S. Kawabata and Fushitsunagia catenata Filloramo et G. W. Saunders, Botanica Marina (Warsaw, Poland) 64 (2), pp. 129-138 : 135

4.2 Fushitsunagia catenata

Fushitsunagia catenata belongs to the Lomentariaceae . The Lomentariaceae in New Zealand is represented by two genera, Ceratodictyon and Lomentari a. In the field, F. catenata was tentatively identified as a Champia but clearly differed morphologically from the common native species Champia novae-zelandiae and Champia chathamensis ( Nelson 2020) as well as from the introduced species Champia affinis ( Adams 1994) . Champia affinis is considered to have been an early introduction to New Zealand ( Adams 1983) and it has a restricted distribution in southern New Zealand and is considered a ‘low impact, low risk’ species ( Nelson 1999).

The genus Fushitsunagia was recently segregated from Lomentaria ( Filloramo and Saunders 2016) . Although De Toni (1924) synonymised L. catenata with Lomentaria umbellata (Hook.f. et Harv.) Yendo from New Zealand, the latter is smaller, up to 8 cm high, has a soft and flaccid texture, with curved side branches and swollen tips ( Nelson 2020) while F. catenata is larger (10–15 cm high), has straight apices and it is turgid. The other three native species: Lomentaria caespitosa , Lomentaria saxigena , and Lomentaria secunda are also smaller in size, 1–3 cm high ( Adams 1994).

The native range of Fushitsunagia catenata is Japan and Korea with the type locality Shimodo, Japan ( Masuda et al. 1995). Fushitsunagia catenata is also found in the Gulf of California ( Norris et al. 2017), New South Wales, Australia ( Millar and Kraft 1993, as Lomentaria catenata ) and Spain (Gallardo et al. 2016). Species in the family that have been reported as non-indigenous are Lomentaria hakodatensis which is native in Asia and introduced to Italy ( Curiel et al. 2006) and presumably California, USA and Pacific Mexico (Miller at al. 2011), Lomentaria clavellosa and Lomentaria orcadensis , native in Europe and introduced to the northwest Atlantic ( Mathieson et al. 2008).

Fushitsunagia catenata is perennial, and the new fronds regenerate at the broken or eroded margins. In Japan, it is luxuriant in winter and autumn ( Lee 1978).

Lee (1978) reported the presence of gland cells in Japanese samples of F. catenata (as Lomentaria catenata ); however these were not noticed by Okamura (1902) and were absent from our samples. More samples should be examined.