Meristotheca papulosa

Meristotheca papulosa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Clade:	Archaeplastida
Division:	Rhodophyta
Class:	Florideophyceae
Order:	Gigartinales
Family:	Solieriaceae
Genus:	Meristotheca
Species:	M. papulosa
Binomial name
Meristotheca papulosa (Montagne) J. Agardh

Meristotheca papulosa (synonyms: M. japonica and Eucheuma papulosa) is a red alga, popular as a sea vegetable in Taiwan, where it is known as jiguancai (Chinese: 鸡冠菜; pinyin: jīguāncài, literally "cockscomb vegetable"), and in Japan, where it is known as tosaka-nori (Japanese: トサカノリ), which can be prefixed with aka (red) so as to distinguish it from the ao (green) and shiro (white) varieties.

Description

The plant tissue varies in color from red to peach, the texture is fleshy and cartilaginous, and the shape is flat and leaf-like, with irregular deep forking divisions. The edges often grow many branchlets of uneven lengths. The surfaces of older individuals will grow warty or spiky protuberances. The morphology is variable. Length can reach 10–40 cm, with a branch width of 1–5 cm. The interior of the algal body has multiple axes.

Life cycle

It has isomorphic alternation of generations (the sporophyte and the gametophyte share a very similar appearance). The tetrasporangia are divided in a ladder shape and scattered across the cortex.

Ecology and distribution

It grows on subtidal rocks 5–20 metres deep, and can be seen at all times of the year.

It is very widely distributed along the coasts of the Indian Ocean from South Africa to Australia, and the western Pacific Ocean from Australia to Japan.