Cladophora vagabunda (Linnaeus) Hoek. (1963: 144)

Gestinari, Lísia Mônica De Souza, Pereira, Sonia Maria Barreto & Yoneshigue-Valentin, Yocie, 2010, Distribution of Cladophora Species (Cladophorales, Chlorophyta) along the Brazilian Coast, Phytotaxa 14, pp. 22-42 : 36-38

9. Cladophora vagabunda (Linnaeus) Hoek. (1963: 144) . Map 1 ; Figs. 4B–F

Conferva vagabunda Linnaeus (1753: 1167)

Thalli feeble to slightly stiff, forming pompom-like tufts, grass green or pale green, (4 –) 7 (– 13) cm high (sometimes reaching up to 25 cm high), attached to the substrate by a basal disc formed by branching rhizoids sprouting from basal and sub-basal cells. Branching dichotomous in basal part of thallus to unilateral at distal parts, with acropetally organized branch system, straight, fasciculate or falcate. Apical cells cylindrical with tapering tips, sometimes conical, measuring (52 –) 68 (– 90) µm wide and (151 –) 212 (– 288) µm long with L/ W ratio of (2.5 –) 3.5 (– 4.5); terminal branch cells (66 –) 83 (– 103,5) µm wide and (221 –) 286,5 (– 367) µm long with L/W ratio of (3 –) 4 (– 5); main axis cells (157 –) 189 (– 223) µm wide and (895 –) 1292 (– 1691) µm long with L/W ratio of (5 –) 7 (– 9). Fertile specimens were collected from Boa Viagem Beach (PE), Baleia, Capuba and Setiba Beachs (ES), Adão e Eva and Prainha Beachs (RJ), Farol Island and Morro do Meio Point (PR) and Ponta das Canas Beach (SC).

Representative Specimens Examined: BRAZIL: Ceará: Caucaia, Praia do Pacheco , 18 Sep. 2001, Xavier ( PEUFR 42682 ) ; 29 Jan. 2002, Xavier ( PEUFR 42685 ) ; Paraíba: João Pessoa, Ponta do Cabo Branco , 07 Oct. 2002, Gestinari & Kanagawa ( PEUFR 42686 ) ; Pernambuco: Recife, Praia de Boa Viagem , 09 Aug. 2002, Gestinari & Torres ( PEUFR 42697 ) ; Alagoas: Maceió, Praia da Ponta Verde , 04 Oct. 2002, Gestinari & Guedes ( PEUFR 42709 ; 42710) ; Sergipe: Aracaju, Praia da Coroa do Meio , 24 Feb. 2001, Gestinari & Torres ( PEUFR 42714 ) ; Bahia: Conde, Praia Sítio do Conde , 06 Oct. 1991, Nunes et al. ( ALCB 49404 ) ; Ilhéus, Praia do Gravatá , 09 Feb. 2001, Nunes et al. ( ALCB 53337 ) ; Espírito Santo: Serra, Manguinhos, Praia da Baleia , 20 Aug. 1986, Guimarães et al. ( PEUFR 42718 ) ; Guarapari, Praia de Setiba , 19 May 2000, Nassar ( PEUFR 42729 ) ; Rio de Janeiro: Búzios, Praia Rasa , 09 Jan. 2001, Gestinari & Torres ( PEUFR 42730 ) ; Cabo Frio, Praia das Conchas , 10 Jan. 2001, Gestinari & Torres ( PEUFR 42731 ; 42732; 42733; 42734) ; Arraial do Cabo, Prainha , 11 Jan. 2001, Gestinari & Torres ( PEUFR 42735 ) ; Niterói, Ilha de Boa Viagem , 16/ VI/2003, Gestinari & Torres ( PEUFR 42738 ) ; São Paulo: São Sebastião, Praia do Araçá , 14 May 1983, Paula et al. ( SPF 54438) ; Paraná: Caiobá, Ilha do Farol , 06 Jun. 2001, Gestinari & Shirata ( PEUFR 42741 ) ; Paranaguá, Ilha do Mel, Saco do Limoeiro , 18 Nov. 1991, Shirata ( UPCB 20770 ) ; Santa Catarina: Bombinhas, Praia da Lagoinha , 23 Mar.1997, Shirata ( HUCP 10067 ) ; Ilha de Santa Catarina, Praia de Ponta das Canas , 24 May 2001, Gestinari & Ouriques ( PEUFR 42744 ) ; Rio Grande do Sul: Torres, Prainha , 28 May 2001, Gestinari & Baptista ( PEUFR 42745 ) ; Tramandaí, Barra de Tramandaí , 29 May 2001, Gestinari & Baptista ( PEUFR 42748 ) .

Additional representative specimens examined: NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. Curaçao: Sta. Martha-binnenbaai, 15 Jun. 1958, Vroman (L 0441852) ; PORTO RICO. San Antonio: Playa El Jobo, 22 Jun. 1963, Díaz-Piferrer (L 0441898) ; USA. Florida: Dry Tortugas - Middle Key , 10 Jun. 1926, Taylor ( UC 315120)

Comments: This is a very common species along the Brazilian coast, epilithic or epizoic, being found growing in boulders and rocky shores (SE, ES, RJ, PR, SC, RS), in close contact with the sand (RJ, PR), or partially covered by sand CE); specimens were also collected attached to sandstone reef plateaus (PB, PE, AL, BA), or growing in intertidal pools (CE, PE, AL). It grows with other algae, as an epiphyte on Cladophora prolifera , Halimeda opuntia (Linnaeus) Lamouroux (1816: 308) , Padina gymnospora , Gelidium pusillum , Chondracanthus acicularis , Cryptonemia seminervis , Grateloupia filicina (J.V.Lamouroux) Agardh (1822: 223) , Bryothamnion seaforthii , B triquetrum , Laurencia sp. Among the accompanying species, we most commonly found Ulva spp. , Chaetomorpha aerea , Cladophora corallicola , C. dalmatica , C. rupestris , Padina gymnospora , Grateloupia filicina , Hypnea musciformis , Centroceras sp. , Spyridia filamentosa (Wulfen) Harvey in Hooker (1833: 337), Bryocladia thyrsigera and Polysiphonia subtilissima . Cladophora vagabunda bears Ulvella sp. , Erythrotrichia carnea, Sahlingia subintegra, Pneophyllum fragille , H. musciformis , Ceramium spp. , as well many diatoms and cyanobacteria as epiphytes.

C. vagabunda is widespread along the Brazilian coast, being found from Maranhão to Rio Grande do Sul States (as C. fascicularis: (Mertens ex C.Agardh) Kützing (1843b: 268) Joly 1965 , Baptista 1973, Santos 1983, as C. vagabunda: Oliveira-Filho 1977 ; Kanagawa 1984; Yoneshigue 1985; Martins et al. 1991; Pereira et al. 2002). A remarkable morphological plasticity was observed in the specimens studied, influenced by age and the environment ( Hoek 1982): plants from exposed sites showed very dense fasciculate branching (PB, PE, SE, BA, AL, RJ, SP, PR, SC, RS), while feeble thalli with less fasciculate branching were found in pools and sheltered sites (CE, PE), but the cell widths overall were quite consistent. C. vagabunda is a common cosmopolitan species which is widely distributed in the tropics and temperate zones of both hemispheres, and in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans ( Hoek 1963, 1982; Lawson & John 1982; Hoek & Womersley 1984; Silva et al. 1996; Hoek & Chihara 2000, Brodie et al. 2007). According to Hoek & Chihara (2000), C. vagabunda would seem to occupy one large and continuous geographic area. However, molecular analyses based on DNA-DNA hybridization experiments ( Bot et al. 1990) and nuclear rDNA ITS sequences ( Bakker et al. 1995) have demonstrated that the morphologically plastic C. vagabunda represents at least four divergent lineages ( Hanyuda et al. 2002, Leliaert et al. 2003, 2007, Brodie et al. 2007, Leliaert et al. 2009). According to Gestinari et al. (2009), the inclusion of sequences from Brazilian individuals of Cladophora reinforces the need of taxonomical revision for the genus and for the complex C. vagabunda . To have a better understanding of the monophyly and of the divergence among species and isolates of the Cladophora vagabunda complex it will be necessary to obtain sequences for other molecular markers and from a broader geographic sampling. This is the first record of this species from Alagoas and Sergipe States.

Figures

MAP 1. Distribution map of the species of the genus Cladophora along the Brazilian coast.

FIGURE 4. Species of Cladophora from the coast of Brasil. A. C. ordinata. Detail of the ramification on the apical portion of the thallus (Pacheco Beach—CE); B–F, C. vagabunda. B, detail of the basal region of the thallus (exposed site); C, detail of a fasciculate terminal branch; D, apical region of the thallus with conspicuous fascicules; E, narrow terminal branch; F, apical cells with zoospores.