Crouania mageshimensis Itono, 1977 (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta) and three other species new to the Eastern Tropical Pacific

Abstract

We report new records of four macroalgae species in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, specifically from the rocky reefs of northern Chocó, Colombian Pacific. Among them, three species of Rhodophyta are included—Crouania mageshimensis Itono, 1977; Monosporus indicus Børgesen, 1931; Jania articulata N’Yeurt & Payri, 2009—and one species of Chlorophyta—Ulothrix subflaccida Wille, 1901. The new records increase the knowledge of tropical marine algae in the Pacific, open the discussion about possible dispersal mechanisms, and recall the importance of conducting molecular studies to define phylogenetic and biogeographic aspects of macroalgae.

Present and Future of Seaweed Cultivation and Its Applications in Colombia

“…Despite the progress made in the Caribbean Sea, the Pacific Ocean remains largely unexplored, mainly due to the difficulties of accessing certain oceanic zones, limiting the study of seaweeds to those associated with mangrove forests, which is the predominant ecosystem in the coastal areas of the Pacific [64,65]. The reports from the Pacific refer mainly to the work carried out by Schnetter and Bula-Meyer [66], Peña [67,68] and Rincón-Díaz et al [69,70] who identified approximately 203 species, whose taxonomic distribution is shown in Table 1. To date, studies on marine algal biodiversity in neighboring regions of the Pacific have focused mainly on Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala [71].…”