Rhizosolenia cochlea Brun

Division: Chromophyta
Class: Bacillariophyceae
Order: Biddulphiales
Suborder: Rhizosoleniineae
Family: Rhizosoleniaceae De Toni
Genus: Rhizosolenia (Ehrenberg) Brightwell
Scientific name: Rhizosolenia cochlea Brun

 

Species: cochlea

Synonym:
Rhizosolenia calcar-avis var. cochlea Ostenfeld

Reference:
Simonsen, 1974.

Description:
Cells cylindrical, mainly solitary or in short chains. Valves regularly conical, distinctly curved at apex. Process strong, gradually tapering from the base to the point, curved, without wings. Chromatophores small, numerous.

Dimensions:
Cells 60-65 µm in diameter; 350-400 µm in length.

Distribution:
Warm water species.

Sites of occurrence in RSA:
In Winter 2006 Cruise, this species occurred occasionally in small numbers at various sites (refer sites map); maximum bundance (2.3*10^2cells/l) was associated with Kuwaiti waters in the northwestern part of the inner RSA (Stations 1 and 14). Species have been previously reported from the inner RSA (Simonsen, 1974) and from Kuwaiti waters (Al-Yamani et al.,
2004; Al-Kandari et al., 2009).