Nilda E. Aponte

Multi-species algal balls and potentially imprisoned fauna: an unusual benthic assemblage

Abstract Unattached algae which form balls are normally reported as being composed of a single species. We report both monospecific algal balls and multispecies assemblages with up to four species providing major structural components from the Caribbean at Los Roques Archipelago, Venezuela. Many of the multispecies balls possessed a cavity surrounded by thick walls of sediment-impregnated algal filaments. Cavity volume was positively related to the length of algal balls. The hollow algal balls were remarkable in that they often contained, and likely imprisoned, a variety of invertebrates, including several species of polychaetes, sipunculans, molluscs, and crustaceans. Relationships between cavity volume and either number or volume of fauna were non-significant. Faunal associates, if in fact imprisoned, are likely to benefit from reduced predation but may be subject to limited food supply, crowding, oxygen deprivation, and limited reproductive opportunities.

Predaea goffiana sp. nov., (Nemastomataceae, Rhodophyta) from Puerto Rico, Caribbean Sea

Abstract A diminutive new species of Predaea (Gigartinales, Rhodophyta) is described from coral reef habitats in Puerto Rico,Caribbean Sea. It is composed of compressed lobes which radiate to form an irregularly rounded shape. The new species is characterized by its cylindrical cortical cells, 3-celled carpogonial branches, small number of nutritive cells associated with auxiliary cells and initiation of gonimoblasts from connecting filaments.