DEEP-WATER MACROALGAE FROM THE CANARY-ISLANDS - NEW RECORDS AND BIOGEOGRAPHICAL RELATIONSHIPS

Due to the geographical location and paleobiogeography of the Canary Islands, the seaweed flora contains macroalgae with different distributional patterns. In this contribution, the biogeographical relations of several new records of deep-water macroalgae recently collected around the Canarian archipelago are discussed. These are Bryopsidella neglecta (Berthold) Rietema, Discosporangium mesarthrocarpum (Meneghini) Hauck, Hincksia onslowensis (Amsler et Kapraun) P. C. Silva, Syringoderma flozidana Henry, Peyssonnelia harveyana J. Agardh, Cryptonemia seminervis (C. Agardh) J. Agardh, Botryocladia wynnei Ballantine, Gloiocladia blomquistii (Searles) R. E. Norris, Halichrysis peltata (W. R. Taylor) P. Huve et H. Huve, Leptofauchea brasiliensis Joly, and Sarcodiotheca divaricata W. R. Taylor. These new records, especially those in the Florideophyceae, support the strong affinity of the Canary Islands seaweed flora with the warm-temperate Mediterranean-Atlantic region. Some species are recorded for the first time from the east coast of the Atlantic Ocean, enhancing the biogeographic relations of the Canarian marine flora with that of the western Atlantic regions.