On the distribution of marine alga Lukinia dissecta Perestenko (Rhodymeniaceae, Rhodymeniales) in the North Pacific

Abstract

The red alga Lukinia dissecta, previously found in a laboratory marine aquarium containing water and substrate (bottom stones and broken shells) from the Avacha Bay (the Southeastern Kamchatka), was first discovered in natural conditions in the Eastern Kamchatka waters. This significantly broadens the concept of the range of the species, which was previously considered disjunctive and exclusively insular. Based on new findings, the species range is reported as extended and, apparently, continuous. The availability of L. dissecta samples from Alaska (USA) in the authors’ possession made it possible to consider the species as a boreal interzonal pan-Pacific one.

Keywords

• Lukinia
• Kamchatka
• range
• pan-Pacific species