Species introCountry intro
Encrusting Fan-Leaf Alga
Sep 11,2017. Seen in the coral wall drop-off in 1000 Steps dive site, Bonaire.
Thin, fan-shaped blades encrusting the substrate, often overlapping in a shingle-like pattern. Shades of green-brown to tan to brown. Grow in most reef environments, encrusting great areas of shaded, rocky substrates. Especially abundant on undercut wall faces along deep drop-offs. Blades surfaces often covered with sediment and encrusted with epiphytes.
South Florida, Bahamas and Caribbean.
''Lobophora variegata'' is a species of small thalloid brown alga which grows intertidally or in shallow water in tropical and warm temperate seas. It has three basic forms, being sometimes ruffled, sometimes reclining and sometimes encrusting, and each form is typically found in a different habitat. This seaweed occurs worldwide. It is the type species of the genus ''Lobophora'', the type locality being the Antilles in the West Indies.
