First report of the seaweed Codium parvulum (Chlorophyta) in Mediterranean waters: recent blooms on the northern shores of Israel

Abstract

Israel A., Einav R., Silva P.C., Paz G., Chacana M.E. and Douek J. 2010. First report of the seaweed Codium parvulum (Chlorophyta) in Mediterranean waters: recent blooms on the northern shores of Israel. Phycologia 49: 107–112. DOI: 10.2216/09-28.1.

Codium parvulum is a green seaweed (Bryopsidales, Chlorophyta) originally described from the Red Sea. It has not previously been reported from the Mediterranean. Since 2004, however, several blooms of this seaweed have been recorded for the northern shores of Israel. Although C. parvulum may have been present in the eastern Mediterranean and overlooked until now, it seems more likely to be a recent Lessepsian migrant. A collection from the Red Sea (El Gouna, Egypt) is designated the epitype of C. parvulum.

Key Words::

• Codium parvulum
• Infralittoral algae
• Invasive seaweeds
• Lessepsian species
• Mediterranean

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported by Research Grant Award No. IS-3853-06 from BARD, The United States–Israel Binational Agriculture Research and Development Fund. We are grateful to Heroen Verbruggen for insightful improvements to the manuscript and for facilitating the use of the collection from El Gouna, Egypt, as the epitype of C. parvulum. We are thankful to Andrei Aharonov for providing information on the distribution of Codium in the study area. We are especially grateful to Hagar Leschner for facilitating a loan of herbarium specimens from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.