Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 15.1
Kelp forest of
Laminaria ochroleuca
(
a
) at 46 m depth at Alboran Island and
Saccorhiza
polyschides
(
b
) at 24 m depth at Tarifa (Strait of Gibraltar).
Phyllariopsis brevipes
(
c
)at42m
depth at Tarifa (Strait of Gibraltar).
Phyllariopsis purpurascens
(
d
) at 45 m depth at Tarifa
(Strait of Gibraltar). Photographs courtesy from OCEANA (
a
) and from JC Moreno (
b
-
d
)
“sea-leek” (Amigues
1989
). However, the first evidence of the presence of kelp
forests in the Mediterranean Sea (in particular at Alboran Island, located at the
center of the Alboran Sea) was found in 1958 in the course of dives by an expedition
of the vessel
Calypso
(Cousteau and Dugan
1963
). Before this discovery, it was
thought that kelp forests were not present in the Mediterranean Sea. These forests
remain poorly studied in comparison to similar communities in other oceans due to
their locations in deep waters and the few phycologists working on this area.
The species occurring in the deep water kelp forests are
Laminaria ochroleuca
Bachelot de la Pylaie,
S. polyschides
(Lightfoot) Batters, and the small kelps
Phyllariopsis brevipes
(C. Agardh) E. C. Henry & G. R. South and
Phyllariopsis
purpurascens
(C. Agardh) E. C. Henry & G. R. South, which also form open kelp
bed communities in very deep waters. While
L. ochroleuca
is a member of
Laminariales, the other three species are members of Phyllariaceae, a family that
has been transferred from Laminariales to Tilopteridales (Sasaki et al.
2001
;
Adl et al.
2005
).
L. ochroleuca
(Fig.
15.1a
) inhabits the NW Atlantic Ocean (from Brittany and
South England in the North to the Atlantic shores of Morocco in the South); it is
also present in the Azores, the Alboran Sea, and the Strait of Messina and, in the
southern hemisphere, in Namibia (detailed references on distribution of all of the
