Acanthophora spicifera   (M. Vahl) Børgesen, 1910

Erect sea moss

Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
This map was computer-generated and has not yet been reviewed.
Acanthophora spicifera  AquaMaps  Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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drawing shows typical species in Rhodomelaceae.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | CoL | ITIS | WoRMS

Florideophyceae | Ceramiales | Rhodomelaceae

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Sessile; depth range 0 - 19 m (Ref. 83908).  Tropical

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Atlantic Ocean: from USA to southeast Brazil, including Gulf of Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean, east to Mauritania and south to Angola, including Equatorial Guinea and São Tomé and Príncipe; Indian Ocean: from the Arabian Sea, including the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, and the Red Sea, south to South Africa, including Aldabra Islands, Seychelles and Réunion, east to Sri Lanka, including Laccadive Islands and Maldives; in the Bay of Bengal, south to Dampier Archipelago, Western Australia, including Andaman and Nicobar Islands; Pacific Ocean: from China to the South China Sea, south to Lord Howe Island, including Spermonde Archipelago and Federated States of Micronesia, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia, east to the Hawaiian Islands, including Fiji, French Polynesia and the Samoan Archipelago.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm

Short description Morphology

Thalli erect, loosely branched, greenish brown to purple, with a small discoid holdfast. Branches terete throughout, slightly attenuated towards the acute tips. Spinous projections, a characteristic of this genus, are densely borne on the spirally arranged determinate branchlets. Thalli to about 15 cm in height (Ref. 80758).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Used for human food consumption; also a source of lambda-carrageenan and antibiotics (Ref. 80758); of low commercial interest internationally as carrageenan sources (Ref. 82232). Maximum depth from Ref. 102170.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Guiry, M.D. and G.M. Guiry. 2009. (Ref. 80701)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)

  Not Evaluated 

CITES status (Ref. 108899)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless (Ref. 80758)

Human uses

Fisheries: commercial
| FishSource |

Tools

E-book | Field guide

More information

Trophic Ecology
Food items
Diet
Food consumption
Ration
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Home ranges
Population dynamics
Growth
Age/Size
Length-weight
Length-length
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Fecundity
Spawning
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Distribution
Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Human Related
Aquaculture profile
Stamps, Coins Misc.
Outreach
Collaborators
Taxonomy
Common names
Synonyms
Morphology
Pictures
References
References

Internet sources

BHL | BOLD Systems | CISTI | DiscoverLife | FAO(Publication : search) | Fishipedia | GenBank (genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | Gomexsi | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | PubMed | AlgaeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia (Go, Search) | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 23.6 - 29.2, mean 27.9 (based on 5085 cells).

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