Beni-mozuku (English name) Helminthocladia australis Harvey

Japanese: ベニモズク（英語表記）Helminthocladia australis Harvey

A sticky but elastic seaweed of the family Cladosporum, Rhodophyta, found widely along the coasts of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, growing on rocks below the low tide line (illustration). It is also found in the Korean Peninsula, Australia, and the Indian Ocean. The body is cylindrical or flat, 1-1.5 cm at its widest point, branches in all directions, and reaches a total length of 15-45 cm. The branches spread out quite widely, with a mixture of long and short branches. It is distinguished from the similar species, Hosobenimozuku H. yendoana Narita, by its small body size of 10-30 cm in length and 0.3-1.2 cm in thickness, and by the fact that the cellular filaments that make up the cortex are about 160 μm long, shorter than Benimozuku's 300 μm.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

本州･四国･九州沿岸に広く分布し，低潮線下の岩上に生育する，粘質に富むが弾力性のある紅藻綱ベニモズク科の海藻（イラスト）。朝鮮半島，オーストラリア，インド洋にも分布する。体は円柱状ないし扁平で，広い部分は1～1.5cmになり，枝を各方面に出し，全長15～45cmになる。枝はかなり広開し，長い枝と短い枝が混在する。似た種類のホソベニモズクH.yendoana Naritaは長さ10～30cm，太さ0.3～1.2cmと体が小型であること，皮層をつくる細胞糸が約160μmの長さで，ベニモズクの約300μmより短いことなどで区別される。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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