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Project Noah Nature School
Mastocarpus papillatus
Morphology highly variable: thallus <15 cm tall, flattened; varies in width with tips divided ~dichotomously; flattened faces of thalli covered thickly or sparsely with papillae of various sizes; dark brown to reddish black. There are separate male and female plants that produce haploid gametes. Male plants lack papillae & are light rose to yellowish in color. In the pictures I think we are looking at a female gametophyte since it has many little papillae. Papillae is where fertilization occurs.
Tidal pools, next to Morro Rock. Morro Bay, CA.
Spotted on Sep 23, 2014
Submitted on Jan 30, 2015
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