Orange Sea Lichen

Caloplaca marina

''Caloplaca marina'', the Orange Sea Lichen, is a crustose, placodioid lichen. It has wide distribution, and can be found near the shore on rocks or walls. Calos in Greek means nice, placa in Greek is shield. Caloplaca therefore means ‘beautiful patches’.
Orange lichen - Caloplaca marina Growing on Granit rocks along the coast of Granit Island South Australia.              Australia,Caloplaca marina,Geotagged,Summer

Appearance

The vegetative body of the lichen, the thallus, is orange or orange-red in colour and may be continuous or fragmented. When fragmented the thallus looks lumpy under a hand lens; when continuous it is areolate and the margins may be ill-defined with almost no lobes; it is never powdery or pruinose. A light coloured prothallus may be visible in well-developed specimens.

Apothecia are small and either scattered through the thallus or grouped in small clusters; diameters rarely greater than 0.8 mm. The orange disc surface is concave initially but matures to convex; the apothecium rim also narrows giving the effect that the convex disc is spilling over it.
Orange lichen - Caloplaca marina Caloplaca marina the Orange Sea Lichen is a crustose, placodioid lichen. It has wide distribution, and can be found near the shore on rocks or walls.
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 Australia,Caloplaca marina,Geotagged,Summer

Distribution

''C. marina'' is found on coastal rocks from calcareous to high silica rich types . It is characteristically found in the mesic supralittoral zone or above ''Verrucaria maura''. It can be distinguished from the superficially similar ''C. thallincola'' by its lack of well-defined thalline lobes.

It is distributed along the coastline throughout the Scottish mainland and islands, Ireland, England and Wales. It is also found throughout Atlantic Europe; English Channel; North Sea; and North West Europe.

''C. marina'' is tolerant of sea spray and brief immersion in seawater.

Habitat

''C. marina'' is found on coastal rocks from calcareous to high silica rich types . It is characteristically found in the mesic supralittoral zone or above ''Verrucaria maura'' . It can be distinguished from the superficially similar ''C. thallincola'' by its lack of well-defined thalline lobes.

It is distributed along the coastline throughout the Scottish mainland and islands, Ireland, England and Wales. It is also found throughout Atlantic Europe; English Channel; North Sea; and North West Europe.

''C. marina'' is tolerant of sea spray and brief immersion in seawater.

References:

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Taxonomy
KingdomFungi
DivisionAscomycota
ClassLecanoromycetes
OrderTeloschistales
FamilyTeloschistaceae
GenusCaloplaca
SpeciesC. marina
Photographed in
Australia