dwashbur
Contributor
We saw these all over the place at Coral Street. We can't tell if they're animal, vegetable or mineral. They're purple, so my wife likes them, but I'd like to know what they are. Anybody know?
Unidentified Purple Thing
- Thread starter dwashbur
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opisthobranch
Contributor
Coralline Algae of some kind. Not sure what species. Don't have those books with me at the moment. From what I gather the taxonomy of algaes is in dispute and it may be that they aren't actually animal, vegetable or mineral but their own thing entirely. Or they might be plants. Depends on who you believe.
Clinton
Clinton
MontereyCADiver
Guest
I agree with Clinton; and, to take one more step -- it's my understanding that coralline alga are of the Kindom Protist.
Protists are unicellular organisms and can exist independently or colonially.
Moving over to ID the specimen in Dave's picture -- that's WAY beyond me; there are thousands of coralline algae species.
I need another cup of coffee....
Nice photo by the way!
Cheers!
Protists are unicellular organisms and can exist independently or colonially.
Moving over to ID the specimen in Dave's picture -- that's WAY beyond me; there are thousands of coralline algae species.
I need another cup of coffee....
Nice photo by the way!
Cheers!
I still call the darned things plants since they are photosynthetic. You just can't teach an old dog new tricks. Besides, the taxonomy will continue to change even after genetic methods are applied because classification systemsa re based on human judgment calls. I say "we're all one... and life flows on, within you and without you." Now where's my coffee?
I specialized in phycology (study of algae) when I was a grad student. I remember taking my algae collection in to my professor (Dr. Mike Neushul). He gathered a few of the top experts on seaweeds in our region and they could not agree on about 50% of the specimens in my collection. That showed me two things: (1) even the experts don't always know and (2) there is a lot of "plasticity" (variability) in appearance of algae based on environmental and other conditions.
I specialized in phycology (study of algae) when I was a grad student. I remember taking my algae collection in to my professor (Dr. Mike Neushul). He gathered a few of the top experts on seaweeds in our region and they could not agree on about 50% of the specimens in my collection. That showed me two things: (1) even the experts don't always know and (2) there is a lot of "plasticity" (variability) in appearance of algae based on environmental and other conditions.
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