CHLOROCOCCUM LITTORALE, A NEW MARINE GREEN COCCOID ALGA (CHLOROCOCCALES, CHLOROPHYCEAE)

A description of the new marine species Chlorococcum littorale CHIHARA, NAKAYAMA et INOUYE (Chlorococcales, Chlorophyceae) is presented. Unicellular green spheroidal cells were isolated from a saline pond artificially made at Heita Bay, Kamaishi City, in northern Japan. The alga has characteristic features of Chlorococcum and is similar to C. submarinum known from Europe, but differs from it by the size of vegetative cells and zoospores, the thickness of cell walls, the shape of starch sheaths surrounding the pyrenoid matrix in old cultures and growth characteristics under various salinities and CO2 concentrations.