Characium
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Characium is a genus of green algae in the family Characiaceae.[1] It is very commonly found in freshwater habitats, where it is attached to phytoplankton or zooplankton.[2]
Description
Characium consists of single or rarely clustered cells. They are attached to a plant or animal substrate (thus epiphytic or epizoic), via a stalk or a circular pad. The cells have diverse shapes, ranging from fusiform to club-shaped or spherical, and are variously straight, hooked, or S-shaped. Cells usually contain a single parietal chloroplast filling the cell, with a central pyrenoid. In some species, the chloroplasts fragment into multiple plastids, each with one pyrenoid.[3] Mature cells have one nucleus (are uninucleate).[4]
Characium reproduces asexually by zoospores. Zoospores have two flagella.[3]
Identification
The genus Characium is similar to Characiopsis, a type of algae in the class Eustigmatophyceae. The two genera are very similar and have been confused in the past;[5] however, Characium produces starch to store excess carbon and thus stains brown to purple in Lugol's iodine solution, while Characiopsis does not.[6] Many other similar segregate genera have been named. These include Deuterocharacium, which differs in having chloroplasts without pyrenoids,[7] and Characiopodium, with multinucleate mature cells.[4]
Identification of species depends on the shapes and sizes of the cell body, as well as the stipe with which the body is attached.[1]
Species list
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- C. acuminatum
- C. ambiguum
- C. angustum
- C. astipitatum
- C. braunii
- C. bulgariense
- C. cerassiforme
- C. conicum
- C. epipyxis
- C. giganteum
- C. groenlandicum
- C. guttula
- C. heteromorphum
- C. limneticum
- C. marinum
- C. nasutum
- C. obtusum
- C. ornithocephalum
- C. ovale
- C. polymorphum
- C. prodani
- C. pseudopyriforme
- C. pyriforme
- C. rostratum
- C. saccatum
- C. sieboldii
- C. strictum
- C. substrictum
- C. subulatum
- C. tenue
- C. terrestre
- C. urnigerum
- C. westianum
References
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