Ball seaweed

Codium pomoides

Dark green. firm, globe-shaped alga attached to rock surfaces.
Thallus up to 120 mm diameter.
Single cell algal seaball (Codium pomoides) On a broad sandy beach facing the Southern ocean this very firm, moist, velvety dark green ball was washed up with other ocean detritus. I have seen them before but never thought much about them. It was a bit larger than a golf ball, very slightly translucent, dense like it was full of water. Apparently they can be up to 120mm diam. which is impressive for a single celled organism which can repair itself if damaged. It appears fluffy underwater and feels velvety out of water due to hundreds of tiny hair-like filaments on its surface. Australia,Ball seaweed,Codium pomoides,Geotagged,Summer

Appearance

Up to the size of a tennis ball these appear as fluffy balls under water and as a dark velvet ball when dry.

Distribution

America and southern Australia.

Status

DSE Advisory List : Not listed
EPBC Act 1999 : Not listed
IUCN Red List : Not listed

Habitat

Low rocky intertidal reefs and subtidal rocky reefs on rough water coasts, to depth of 20 m.
Reefs.
Coastal shores

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

http://portphillipmarinelife.net.au/species/11146
http://eol.org/pages/963009/overview
http://www.algaebase.org/search/species/detail/?species_id=of73803a309c2b98e&-session=abv4:DCED60510798c0A48Bkp25E51BA0
Taxonomy
KingdomPlantae
DivisionChlorophyta
ClassUlvophyceae
OrderBryopsidales
FamilyCodiaceae
GenusCodium
SpeciesCodium pomoides
Photographed in
Australia