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RHODORA, Vol. 102, No. 910, 202-207, 2000 pp. NEW ENGLAND NOTE AEGAGROPILOUS FROM DESMARESTIA ACULEATA NEW HAMPSHIRE Arthur Mathilson' and Edward C. Hhhrli J. Dcparlnicnl of Planl Biology and Jackson Estuarine Laboratory, NH New University of Hampshire, Durham, 03824 arthur@ unh 'e-mail: hopper. Dawls Clinton J. FL Department of Biology, University of South Tampa, 33620 Florida, Although most seaweeds anchored by are solidly their hold- common fasts, unattached populations are in calm bays, fjords, marshes, and throughout (Benz salt estuaries the v^orld et al. Dawes 1979; 1985; Josselyn 1977; Orth 1991; et et Phillips al. al. somewhat 1961; Zobell 1971). Five arbitrary and overlapping categories of unattached seaweeds can be recognized (Norton and Mcithieson 1983): entangled: highly branched and intertwined (1) Bonnemaisonia plants hainifcra Han, Gracilaria tikvahiae [e.g., McLachlan, and Hypnea miisciformis (Wulfen in Jacq.) V. La- J. among may mour.] that occur other drifting seaweeds and include multiple plants or taxa; loose-lying: completely unattached (2) plants such as the saltmarsh fucoids Ascophylhim nodosum (L.) Le ecad scorpioides (Hornemann) Reinke and Jol. Fitcus vesi- culosus ecad (Hudson) embedded: L. voJiibilis Turner; plants (3) mud and that lack a holdfast are partially buried in sand or (e.g., Wynne Magne); Fiicus cottonii et (4) free-floating: entcuigled and drift plants like Sargassiuii natans (L.) Gaillon; and aegagro- (5) pilous: spherical masses of radially arranged branches that are composed of either single or multiple plants held together by branches interlocking Pilayella Kjellm. and [e.g., littorcdis (L.) Spennothafuniou repens (Dillwyn) Rosenv.]. Of 328 the species of unattached seaweeds recorded by Norton and Mathieson (1983), 146 were loose-lying, 62 58 free-floating, entangled, 53 aegagropilous, and 9 embedded. The aegagropilous taxa included 25 red, 18 green, and 10 brown Some of algae. the known best ball-forming algae are produced by freshwater and marine Cladophora (Hoek Newton species of 1963; 1950; Sakai 202 New England Note 2000] 203 CM I Two Figure aegagropilous specimens of Desmarestia acideata, with 1. the sample on the left being more compacted and spherical than the one on = cm. the right; scalar 5 with famous Japanese 1964), the "lake-balls'' designated as nat- monuments (Kurogi According Newton ural 1980). to (1950), Cladophora occur sometimes up balls sporadically, cast in enor- mous numbers and other times Aegagropilous at totally absent. most species, like other unattached seaweeds, originate from attached plants, and they usually become and reproduce infertile by entirely vegetative ineans (Fritsch 1935, 1945). The present paper reports the occurrence of two aegagropilous specimens of Desmarestia acideata Lamour (Desma- (L.) V. J. Phaeophyceae; Figure were Concord restiales, that collected 1) at New Point (43"0r00"N, 70°43'55"W), Rye, Hampshire on Feb- common ruary 1998. a perennial Mathieson and Hehre 6, It is (cf. 1982; Taylor 1957) that grows attached to solid substrata within subtidal environments throughout the eastern (Portugal Iceland to and Greenland) and western North (New Atlantic Jersey to the Canadian Maritimes), the North Pacific from Oregon to the Aleu- tian Islands of Alaska, the Bering Sea, Kurile Islands, and Russia (Mathieson 1979; Scagel 1986; South and et Tittley 1986). al. We believe this represents the record of D. acideata growing first in an aegagropilous habit, as onlv free-floatine or entansled mas- Rhodora 204 102 [Vol. Math common Gulf of Maine, Drift material of D. aciileata in the is may kg wet m^ occur where biomass vahies excess of wt. in 1 1 unpubL major winter storms (Mathieson, data). after One of the two Desmarcstia balls was found within a deep channel pool, while the other occurred within a tidal that tidal wave was closed one end and open to strong action at the at The specimens (Figure were approximately the size of other. 1) X cm X They were com- and cm). a tennis ball (7.5 7.5 7.5 8.5 posed primarily of entangled, ''wiry", and very spiny Desmares- which were than most attached speci- fronds, flatter terete, lia A mens. diverse assemblage of plants, animals, and shell fragments was associated with the Desmarcstia balls: the cord grass Chaetonwrpha seaweeds linum Spartina alterniflora Lois.; the E Rhizoclonium tortuosum (Dillwyn) Kutz., (O. Kutz., Miill.) Chondnis Polysiphonia (Huds.) Grev., Stackh., fiicoides crispiis Dynamena pum- and Ptilota serrata Kiitz.; plus the invertebrates Menibranipora mefubranacea Tuhulana and ila (L.), (L.), sp., M\tiliis edulis L. As Gibb noted by several investigators Fritsch 1935, 1945; (cf. 1957; Nakazawa and Abe 1973; Sakai 1964; Yoshida 1963), the morphology from of aegagropilous results a variety factors, in- movement detachment/breakage, of fragment- cluding oscillating development, and ed materials, meristematic injury, scar tissue new extensive regeneration and/or proliferation of growth. Sub- sequent rolling and further injury causes pruning, proliferation, and compaction, resulting in a dense, spherical structure. com- In the case of Cladophora, aegagropilous specimens are posed of entangled masses of filaments bound by rhizoids. In old Cladophora balls the center often decays, leaving a cavity; youn- may form The "beach form" ger balls several concentric layers. nodosum of the temperate North Atlantic Ascophyllum either [i.e., Holmes nodosum mack- ecad mackaii (Turner) Batters or A. A. et one most (Turner) Cotton of different investigators] of the ail is highly modified spherical forms (Gibb 1957; South and Hill Two temperate aegagropilous seaweeds form extensive 1970). brown blooms, including the persistent nuisance alga Pilayella Massachusetts and the ceramialean ''red tide" alga littoralis in New Spennothamnion repens southern England (Wilce in et al. 1982). Tropical and subtropical seaweeds form similar structures; detached Caulerpa racemosa (Forsskal) Agardh and Bryotham- J. New England Note 205 2000J nion seaforthii (Turner) form ball-shaped masses KCitz. after ex- posure to gentle water motion near coral reefs and within man- Rehm grove canals (Almodovar and Nuisance 1971). populations of lagunal ball-forming Cladophora prolifera (Roth) occur Klitz. Bermuda (Bach and in Josselyn 1978). The crustose coralhne red alga Lithothamnion glaciale Kjellm. may form free-living balls or rhodoliths on sandy or gravelly Newfoundland substrata in quiet bays in (Hooper 1981). Ice is instrumental in these habitats as breaks off the calcareous it allowing small fragments around and crusts, to roll acquire a dis- tinctive ball-shaped configuration. Extensive populations of rhodoliths {Lithophyllum and Lithothamnion occur spp.) also the in Gulf of Cahfornia Bosence 1983; Foster and Riosmena-Rod- (cf. riguez 1999; Steller and Foster 1995) where they constitute major sources of carbonate sediment and habitats of high diversity (Fos- ter et al. 1997). In contrast to the production of ball-shaped struc- from tures living, photosynthetic seaweeds, balls are also produced from dead leaf and rhizome materials of the Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile. In a series of experi- Cannon mental evaluations, (1979) demonstrated the importance of oscillating water motion, clumping, compaction, and disinte- gration of detrital materials in the formation of Posidonia balls. Apparently, frond detachment Desmarestia followed by in is injury to intercalary meristem, resulting in the loss of trichoth- its allic hairs and a lack of proliferations. ball-shaped moiphology Its probably develops because of rolling and compaction of residual The branches, plus the incorporation of ^'foreign" materials. re- tention of detached Desmarestia fragments within deep pools tide may or semi-enclosed channels provide tidal a vehicle for con- movement and compaction. sistent (rolling) We ACKNOWLEDGMENT. indebted Ms. Jenna Wanat and are to Ms. Kim Mayer who two collected the samples of Desmarestia during Marine balls ^ f.i.ewl^d^ investigations in association wdth a Bot- *** . ^-"-^to any The class in the spring of 1998. paper issued as Contri- is Number bution 347 from the Jackson Estuarine Laboratory and Center Marine the for Biology. LITERATURE CITED Almodovar, L. R. and A. Ri:hm. 197L Marine La Pargucra, algal balls at Nova Puerto Rico. 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