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red
seaweeds text index
| photo index
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| Seaweeds > Division Rhodophyta |
| Holey
sponge seaweed Ceratodictyon spongiosum* Family Lomentariaceae updated Aug 10 Where seen? This woolly branching seaweed is sometimes seen on our Southern shores, growing on coral rubble. It looks like a sponge, complete with holes along the 'stems'. Features: The entire organism can be about 20-30cm across, with 'stems' about 1-2cm wide. Each 'stem' is made up of fine, branched filaments that are packed together to form structures that feel woolly, velvety, spongey or felt-like. There are tiny holes along the 'stems'. Light to dark green. This organism is actually a symbiotic combination of an algae (Ceratodictyon spongiosum) and a sponge (Haliclona cymaeformis, indicated as Sigmadocia symbiotica in AlgaeBase). The algae makes up the bulk of the organism while the sponge appears to give the organism its shape and form, contributing to the formation of the tiny holes. The algae gets most of the nitrogen it needs from the sponge while the sponge benefits from the skeletal frame that the algae provides. Sometimes confused with the Smooth sponge green seaweed (Cladophoropsis vaucheriaeformis) which looks very similar, its holes along the 'stems' are not obvious when out of water. This is a green seaweed which also has a symbiotic relationship with another kind of sponge. |
 Pulau Semakau, Mar 05  |
Holey sponge seaweeds on Singapore shores
 Pulau Hantu, Jun 10 |
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 Labrador, Aug 02  |
 Cyrene Reef, Oct 07  |
 Sentosa, Feb 08  |
On this website, they are grouped by external features for convenience of display.
| Ceratodictyon
recorded for Singapore Pham, M. N., H. T. W. Tan, S. Mitrovic & H. H. T. Yeo, 2011. A Checklist of the Algae of Singapore.
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Links
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University of Western Australia Press. 300pp.|
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