Coralline algae Temporal range:
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Spongites yendoi together with the gardening limpet Scutellastra cochlear | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Clade: | Archaeplastida |
Division: | Rhodophyta |
Class: | Florideophyceae |
Subclass: | Corallinophycidae |
Order: | Corallinales Silva & Johansen, 1986[4] |
Families and subfamilies | |
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Coralline algae are red algae in the order Corallinales. They are characterized by a thallus that is hard because of calcareous deposits contained within the cell walls. The colors of these algae are most typically pink, or some other shade of red, but some species can be purple, yellow, blue, white, or gray-green. Coralline algae play an important role in the ecology of coral reefs. Sea urchins, parrot fish, and limpets and chitons (both mollusks) feed on coralline algae. In the temperate Mediterranean Sea, coralline algae are the main builders of a typical algal reef, the Coralligène ("coralligenous").[5] Many are typically encrusting and rock-like, found in marine waters all over the world. Only one species lives in freshwater.[6] Unattached specimens (maerl, rhodoliths) may form relatively smooth compact balls to warty or fruticose thalli.
A close look at almost any intertidal rocky shore or coral reef will reveal an abundance of pink to pinkish-grey patches, distributed throughout the rock surfaces. These patches of pink "paint" are actually living crustose coralline red algae. The red algae belong to the division Rhodophyta, within which the coralline algae form the order Corallinales. There are over 1600 described species of nongeniculate coralline algae.[7]
The corallines are presently grouped into two families on the basis of their reproductive structures.[8]
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