Morphological and Anatomical Studies on Arthrocladia villosa (Huds.) Duby and Sporochnus pedunculatus (Huds.) C. Ag.

Authors: B. DURAL, Teoman KESERCİOĞLU

Abstract: Two benthic marine algae, Arthrocladia villosa (itads.) Duby and Sporochnus pedunculatus (Huds.) C. Ag. reported in recent years in Turkey, are shown with explanations of their morphological and anatomical properties and bathimetric positions according to this investigation. It has been found that their depth distributions have declined by several meters between the years 1988-1989 and 1993. Around the islands of Hekim and Yassica (both in Izmir Bay) the depth distributions have changed from 30-35 m to 22-25/18 m and from 25-28 m to 22 m respectively. Furthermore, the size of the specimens of both species, collected at similar times of the year at their respective depth limits, have become much smaller within the last five years.

Keywords: Benthic algae, morphology, anatomy, Turkey