T H E E M I R AT E S – A N AT U R A L H I S T O R Y

MARINE PLANTS
MARINE PLANTS
SEAWEEDS GROW IN THE SEA AND brackish water on intertidal and subtidal rocks, seagrasses, the breathing roots of
mangroves, other seaweeds and animals, including dead coral skeletons. They belong to the ‘algae’ which is a term
used for an unnatural assemblage of photosynthetic, oxygen-producing organisms that do not possess true roots,
stems and leaves. These ‘macroalgae’ sometimes have root-like rhizoids, stem-like stipes and leaf-like structures.
Seaweeds are divided into a number of groups or phyla, depending on pigmentation linked to a suite of other
characters. Some of the more common seaweeds from the UAE are described below, all being listed separately.
Microscopic algae are only listed.

G R E E N A L G A E ( P H Y L U M C H L O R O P H Y TA )
Characteristically bright green, since the chlorophyll pigments are
not masked by other secondary pigments. Morphology ranges
from single cells, simple or branched filaments of cells aligned in
a single series to compact spongy forms through to flattened
fronds or tubes. A few are lime-impregnated.
Acetabularia calyculus Quoy & Gaimard
Umbrella-like, often whitish and calcified, usually about 2–4
centimetres high. Commonly on small stones, worm tubes and
shell fragment embedded on the floor of shallow sand-lined tide
pools on the lower shore and in the shallow subtidal zone.
Avrainvillea amadelpha (Montagne) A. & E.S. Gepp
Fan-shaped spongy erect fronds on long stipes, sometimes densely
packed, often several arising from a long bulbose rhizomatous base.
Occurs on sediment in lower shore tide pools and the shallow
subtidal zone in seagrass beds.
Caulerpa serularioides (S.G. Gmelin) Howe
Erect fronds flattened, pinnate, with the pinnules cylindrical and
disposed in a single plane or radially arranged (var. farlowii), arise
from creeping stolon-like base attached by rhizoids. Commonly
growing over sediments amongst seagrass and amongst other
shallow-water seaweeds, including just below the water surface
on pontoons in Abu Dhabi.
Cladophoropsis sundanensis Reinbold
Compact, spongy cushions (about 5 centimetres across), composed
of light green and laterally branched filaments lacking a cross wall
at base. Occurs commonly during the summer on lower eulittoral
subzone rocks, often forming very extensive, loose-lying mats in
very shallow water in sheltered embayments and over tidal flats.
Dictyosphaeria cavernosa (Forsskål) Børgesen
Globular and irregularly lobed, hollow, stiff and brittle, formed of
large and conspicuous macroscopic cells (1–3 millimetres across),
often older plants eroded at the top. Occurs on rocks in the lower
eulittoral (subzone), often fringing rocky tidepools, occasionally in
the sublittoral fringe with Chondrophycus papillosus and Digenia
simplex.
Enteromorpha (now Ulva) flexuosa (Wulfen ex Roth) J. Agardh
Branches tubular, often divided near base, inflated and flattened
above, single-layered. Occurs most commonly on partially sand-
buried beach rocks in the lower eulittoral subzone.
BACKGROUND PHOTO: Macroalgae
BELOW: Cladophoropsis sundanensis

Chaetomorpha linum (O.F. Müller) Kützing

Loose-lying and entangled, intertwined and unbranched filaments
of cylindrical cells. Often in wave-sheltered embayments and
harbours where loose-lying over mud, entangled with seagrasses
and commonly forming shrouds over the breathing roots of the
mangrove Avicennia marina.

Cladophora nitellopsis Børgesen

Soft woolly tufts of light green branched filaments of a single series
of cells, with branchlets arising singly along main branches,
alternately or oppositely except the final divisions lateral in position,
apical cell cylindrical and rounded apically. Occurs as extensive
mats on beds of mussels in sheltered shallow tide pools and
extending into the shallows subtidal zone, often associated with
the breathing roots of mangroves in lagoons and muddy creeks.

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 B R O W N A L G A E ( P H Y L U M P H A E O P H Y TA )
T H E E M I R AT E S – A N AT U R A L H I S T O R Y
Characteristically brown in colour, due to the presence in quantity
of pigments masking the green colour of the chlorophyll.
Morphologically varying from filaments of cells in a single series
to strap-like through to forms with leaf-like appendages (e.g.
Sargassum) and others of considerable size with a distinct
holdfast, stipe and frond.
Colpomenia sinuosa (Mertens ex Roth) Derbes & Solier ‘Oyster thief’
Sac-like crinkled balls, with age becoming irregularly lobed,
convoluted, brain-like and reaching 30 centimetres across. Occurs
on wave-exposed rocks in the sublittoral fringe and largest
individuals on wave-sheltered rocky platforms at about 2 metres
below low water. Occurs from November to April/May along the
Arabian Gulf coast of the UAE and commonly seen floating in the
sea in early summer when cast ashore in large numbers.
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MARINE PLANTS
Cystoseira myrica (S.G. Gmelin) C. Agardh
Branches covered by numerous short spines, fairly rigid, reaching
about 30 centimetres high, with side branches alternately pinnate
and gradually becoming shorter towards the apices giving them a
triangular appearance. Sometimes present are spiny oval air
bladders. Perennial and with many small spiny branchlets and air
bladders becoming lost in autumn to become cast ashore in large
quantities. Occurs in the sublittoral fringe but the largest are most
common on rocky platforms and sand-embedded rocks in
shallow water.
Cystoseira trinodis (Forskål) C.Agardh
Slender branches (almost 0.8 metres long) bear spine-like
outgrowths and ultimate branchlets usually having spindle-shaped
air bladders in two’s or three’s, with or without narrow, smooth-
margined appendages (about 3 millimetres wide and 3–5
centimetres long). Occurs with other large brown seaweeds forming
dense forests on shallow submerged rocky platforms, occasionally
the dominant. Only present from November to April along the
Arabian Gulf coast of the UAE. Often the principal axes of Cystoseira
trinodis persists over the summer, becoming so heavily epiphytised
by the filamentous brown seaweed Sphacelaria rigidula that they
look like cat’s tails.
Dictyota dichotoma var. intricata (C. Agardh) Greville
LEFT:Cystoseira trinodis
Overlapping regularly forked strap-like fronds, often spirally
ABOVE: Lobophora variegata
twisted and tapering towards the apices, reaching to about 20 BELOW: ‘Peacock weed’ Padina boergesenii
centimetres long and light brown. Occurs on low rocky platforms
and sand-embedded rocks behind reef platforms and in seagrass
beds, sometimes entangled with seagrass blades.
LEFT: ‘Oyster thief’ Colpomenia sinuosa growing on lower shore
BELOW: Crinkled balls of Colpomenia on dead branches of the coral Acropora
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T H E E M I R AT E S – A N AT U R A L H I S T O R Y
RIGHT: Sargassum decurrens
BELOW: S. latifolium
Hormophysa cuneiformis (J.F. Gmelin) P.C. Silva
Branches three-winged, fairly rigid, more or less segmented and
margins distinctly dentate, reaching about 50 centimetres in length,
with branches irregularly pinnate or whorled. Perennial and in the
winter often seen with heavily epiphytised basal portions. Occurs in
shallow-water algal ‘forests’ dominated by other larger brown
seaweeds, usually best-developed on partially sand-buried rocks.
Lobophora variegata (Lamouroux) Womersley
Rounded to fan-shaped blades, prostrate and/or even crustose,
black zig-zag bands on surface, attached by rhizoids arising from
the lower surface. Perennial and one of the most fleshy seaweeds
on coral reefs, conspicuous in summer on the Arabian Gulf coast
when many canopy-dominant seaweeds have disappeared.
Padina boergesenii Allender & Kraft ‘Peacock weed’, ‘turkey-tail’
Fan-shaped blades with concentric dark rows of hairs, often
whitish on upper surface due to strong calcification. Occurs in
lower shore pools and on shallow rocks down to about 5 metres
below low water.
Sargassum latifolium (Turner) C. Agardh
Branches up to 0.5 metres long, compressed, bearing leaf-like
appendages (0.5–1 centimetre wide to 6 centimetres long),
erumpent cryptostomata, with conspicuous marginal teeth and small
bladders. Commonly forming dense forests on rocky platforms in
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shallow water (0.5–3 metres), only present from November to
about April/May along the Arabian Gulf coast of the UAE.
Sargassum decurrens (Brown ex Turner) C. Agardh
Branches flattened above, very rigid, with lateral alternate
branches arising on each side of axis and gradually narrowing
towards apex. Small stalked bladders sometimes present. Most
commonly seen along the Arabian Gulf coast on partially sand-
buried rocks along with Hormophysa cuneiformis.
Sphacelaria rigidula Kützing
Small stiff tufts (up to 5 centimetres high), with main and side
branches similar and irregularly divided, sometimes bearing
minute Y-shaped propagules. Occurs most commonly as an
epiphyte on larger brown seaweeds such as species of Sargassum,
Cystoseira trinodis and Hormophysa cuneiformis.
R E D A L G A E ( P H Y L U M R H O D O P H Y TA )
Characteristically red in colour since the green chlorophyll pigment
is masked by a combination of the red pigment phycoerythrin and
the blue pigment phycocyanin. Often under high light conditions
individuals become bleached to a brownish or straw colour.
Varying morphologically from filaments of a single series of cells
through to compact tissues in the form of cylindrical or flattened
branches and sometimes membrane-like fronds. Some are hard,
from impregnation with lime, and are referred to as ‘coralline’
algae as they have a coral-like appearance. The reproduction and
life history of members of this phylum are often very complex.
Acanthophora spicifera (Vahl) Børgesen
Bushy, somewhat stiff to cartilaginous, branches cylindrical and
sparsely branched, bearing side branches of rather similar length
and these beset with small spines, reaching about 15 centimetres
long and dark purple to straw-coloured. Occurs on rocks in lower
eulittoral tide pools close to edge of limestone platforms and fringing
shallow subtidal rocks. Often common along the edge of pontoons.
Caloglossa leprieurii (Montagne) J.Agardh
Mats of narrow flattened fronds each with a central vein,
constricted at regular intervals to form oval segments (about 2–3
millimetres long), up to two blades arising from each constriction
along with attaching rhizoids, brownish to almost purplish-black.
Only known from the UAE at Khor Kalba, where it grows on the
breathing roots of mangrove Avicennia marina.
Centroceras clavulatum (C. Agardh) Montagne
Mats or clumps of filaments, regularly branched and, when
examined with a x10 hand lens, appears segmented due to regular
alternation of short and longer internodal cells, distinctive whorls
of spines at nodes, reaching about 5 centimetre high and reddish-
brown to purple. Occurs on rocks with turf-forming seaweed and
on larger forms growing in the lower eulittoral subzone,
occasionally on sand-embedded hard surfaces on beaches.
Chondrophycus papillosus (C.Agardh) Garbary
Branches cylindrical, stiff to cartilaginous, irregularly divided and
each beset with small branchlets (sometimes swollen) which
decrease in length towards the apices so having a narrow
MARINE PLANTS
pyramidal outline, somewhat straw-coloured. Occurs commonly
along the Arabian Gulf coast, in rocky lower-shore tide pools,
often associated with Dictyosphaerium cavernosa.
Digenia simplex (Wulfen) C. Agardh
Branches erect, stiff, irregularly divided and covered by short
bristle-like branchlets giving it a brush-like apppearance, reaching
about 30 centimetres in length and reddish to a dull brown in
colour. Occurs in the sublittoral fringe along the Arabian Gulf
coast where commonly heavily covered by small epiphytes.
Gelidium pusillum (Stackhouse) Le Jolis
Creeping, felty mats of minute erect branches (less than 1
centimetre high) arising from a creeping basal system of
branches, with erect branches flattened, constricted, irregularly
divided and rounded at apex. Brownish to reddish-purple in
colour. Occurs from sheltered to very wave-exposed shores as a
felty covering over rocks, barnacles and molluscs or mixed with
other turf-forming seaweeds.
Gracilaria canaliculata Sonder
Dense clumps (about 10 centimetres across) of cartilaginous to
fleshy, regularly forked branches (3–5 millimetres across) that
bend downwards and become secondarily attached to rock
surfaces by a disc or bundles of rhizoids. Occurs most commonly
on shallow, wave-exposed rocks often at the upper and seaward
edge of gently sloping rocky platforms.
Hypnea cervicornis J. Agardh
Bushy and relatively stiff tufts, branches cylindrical and
irregularly to alternately divided on each side of branch, all
branches similar and gradually taper to the apices. Occurs on
rocks amongst other seaweeds in the sublittoral fringe and on
low rocky banks, sand-embedded rocks in seagrass beds and
sometimes entangled with seagrass blades.
ABOVE: Mat-forming red alga Gelidium pusillum
LEFT: Cystoseira myrica covered by pinkish crusts of the coralline ‘red’ alga
Hydrolithon
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T H E E M I R AT E S – A N AT U R A L H I S T O R Y
RIGHT:The flattened, fan-shaped branches of the coralline ‘red’ alga
Lithophyllum kotschyanum
BELOW: Red algae Jania rubens on Sargassum
Hypnea cornuta (Kützing) J. Agardh
Bushy, branches sparingly alternately divided, bearing short, simple,
upwardly curved branchlets with a spiny apex, often present are
star-shaped detachable propagules, reaching about 15 centimetres
high and pink to straw-coloured. Occurs over the winter and early
summer where most common on small stones, shell fragments
and other sand-embedded surface in shallow seagrass beds and
large shallow tide pools in the lower eulittoral subzone.
Jania rubens (Linnaeus) Lamouroux
Forms almost spherical brittle tufts (3–10 centimetres across),
branches very narrow, regularly divided and of heavily calcified
cylindrical segments separated by a flexible articulation, pinkish-
red and sometimes bleached white. Occurs commonly as tassel-
like growths on large brown seaweeds in shallow water along the
Arabian Gulf coast, more rarely on rocks, often forming free-
living populations lying loose on the seabed. Bleached individuals
are cast ashore in large numbers during the early summer.
Lithophyllum kotschyanum Unger
Hemispherical clumps of slender or coarse, simple or divided
branches with blunt apices, or form more brain-like clumps of
interweaving, flattened, fan-like branches, about 5–10 centimetres
high and light pinkish-red in colour. Common in shallow water on
dead coral skeletons and rocks down to about 10 metres off the
Arabian Gulf coast of the UAE. Often covering large areas of rock
in shallow tide pools on limestone platforms.
Spyridia filamentosa (Wulfen) Harvey
Bushy, distinct and irregularly divided branches, usually about 10
centimetres long and pink to straw-coloured. With a x10 hand
lens, branchlets are visible, arising at right-angles to main axes
and giving plants a somewhat fuzzy appearance. Occurs on small
hard, sand-embedded surfaces in tide pools and shallow-water
seagrass beds, sometimes on the seagrass blades.
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Wurdemannia miniata (Draparnaud) Feldmann and Hamel
Wiry clumps or mats, with branches round in section, irregularly
to unilaterally divided and apically with a short point, reaching
about 10 centimetres in height and dark brownish-red in colour.
Common with other mat – or clump-forming algae on rocks in
shallow water, especially on dead coral skeletons.
David John
G LO S SA RY
Apex: end of an elongate cell, filament or structure.
Aplanosporangium: cell or sporangium containing aplanospores.
Aplanospores: non-motile spore and not morphologically identical to
the mother cell.
Calcareous: containing large amounts of calcium carbonate.
Calcified: encrusted or impregnated with calcium carbonate.
Chloroplast: an organelle containing the green pigment chlorophyll,
applied regardless of whatever auxiliary pigments are also present.
Corallines: hard and calcareous red algae.
Crustose: crust-like.
Epiphytic: living on the surface of another plant.
Eulittoral: zone on the shore between the levels of low and high tides
(intertidal).
Filament: cells united or arranged in one or more rows to form a chain
or thread.
Frond: leak-like or erect portion of a thallus.
Ligulate: tongue-shaped; strap-like and short.
Littoral fringe: zone on the shore beyond the tidal range and only
influenced by wash, splash or spray.
Node: the junction between two adjacent cells of a filament, the
constriction of a regularly constricted thallus or between articulations in
articulated coralline algae.
Phycocyanin: blue biliprotein pigment of all blue-green algae, cyanelles,
cryptophytes and red algae.
Phycoerythrin: red biliprotein pigment of some blue-green algae, a few
cryptophytes and almost all red algae.
Rhizoid: single-celled or filamentous attachment organ.
Stipe: a stem-like region below a frond.
Sublittoral: below the lowest level of the tides.
Thallus: body of simple plants not differentiated into a true root, stem,
leaf or leaves.
M I C ROA LGA E
MARINE PLANTS
Y E L LOW- G R E E N A LGA E chlorophyll. Single-celled, loosely arranged or
( P H Y LU M X A N T H O P H Y TA ) tightly packed clusters of cells, or of simple or
branched filaments (known as ‘trichomes’)
Only a single xanthophyte (Vaucheria) has
been recorded from the UAE, where on wave- with or without an external mucilage sheath
sheltered shores it often forms a green (sometimes several trichomes within a
velvety covering over large areas of soft single sheath).
sediment. It is not always evident because it David John
is often beneath a thin layer of fine silt and
sediment. There is some doubt to the D I ATO M S
species identification since all material ( P H Y LU M BAC I L L A R I O P H Y TA )
examined has been without the reproductive Microscopic, characteristically having silica-
Cyanobacteria mat
organs required to confirm its identification. walled pillbox-shaped cells divided into two
parts, each half known as a ‘valve’. Brown sand, hard surfaces and on seaweeds. The
B LU E - G R E E N A LGA E in colour, due to the presence of chlorophyll c only samples of living diatoms from Abu
( P H Y LU M CYA N O P H Y TA ) masking the more usual green colour of Dhabi were collected in November 2000 by
The Cyanophyta are more closely related to photosynthetic organisms, derived from SCUBA divers. Many specimens examined
will be new to science, with roughly 20–25
bacteria than to all other algal groups and chlorophyll b. Free-living or attached
hence are commonly referred to as the directly to surfaces, sometimes by simple or per cent of the total flora as yet
‘Cyanobacteria’. The colour varies from branched stalks; occasionally cells arranged undescribed. So far two new species
green to blue-green to almost black or red in series enclosed within a sheath. belonging to the genus Climaconeis have
depending on the relative proportions of the Sometimes occur in sufficiently large been described (Reid and Williams 2002).
pigments phycocyanin, phycoerythrin and numbers to form brownish covering on Geraldine Reid and David M. William
S E AG R A S S E S
Seagrasses are so-called because many have ribbon-like leaves lower eulittoral pools and down to a depth of about 8 metres along
containing veins. They are not true grasses but belong to the the Arabian Gulf coast of the UAE.
Magnoliophyta. These have true roots, stems and leaves containing Halodule uninervis (Forskål) Ascherson
vein-like conducting tissues and are flowering plants, although their Leaves ligulate, narrow and long (up to 3.5 centimetres wide and 15
flowers are inconspicuous. The erect grass-like shoots arise at centimetres long), three-veined, widening and sometimes forked
intervals from well-developed creeping rhizomes that are anchored
towards tip, each tip having two linear lateral teeth and a median
in sandy or silty shallows by simple or branched rhizoids. Seagrasses tooth where the midrib ends. The most common seagrass along the
commonly form extensive beds or largely submarine ‘meadows’ that Arabian Gulf coast where its extensive beds extend from the lower
assist in stabilising unconsolidated surfaces and are important eulittoral (subzone) to a depth of about 8 metres.
nursery grounds as well as a major food source for marine animals David John
including dugongs and turtles.
Halophila ovalis (R.Brown) Hook
Leaves in pairs and flat, obovate or ovate,
smooth-margined (usually up to 4 centimetres
long) with 10–25 pairs of ascending cross-
veins, each leaf arises on a slender erect stalk
(up to 4.5 centimetres long). Occurs in shallow
sandy lower eulittoral pools and down to a
depth of about 8 metres along the Arabian Gulf
coast of the UAE.
Halophila stipulacea (Forskål) Ascherson
Leaves in pairs and flat, linear to oblong or
elliptical (up to 6 centimetres long), margins
slightly serrated and with many cross-veins,
each leaf arises on a short erect stalk (up to
1.5 centimetres). Occurs in shallow sandy
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