Abstract
Since the seminal work of K. M. Drew in 1949 linking the genera Porphyra
and Conchocelis as phases of the same life history, it was possible
to achieve significant advances in the mariculture of the most economically
important red algal genus. Due to the conspicuity of the leafy phase, which
forms dense belts on rocky coasts, and the cryptic habit of the filamentous
phase, it is just natural that the ecology of the leafy phase has received
much more attention from biologists. In fact, very little is known world
wide about the natural populations of the filamentous phase. Here we
describe a simple method to look for conchocelis on calcareous shells and
document, for the first time, the distribution of the conchocelis phase of
two Brazilian species of Porphyra in the field. Our data
show that the conchocelis phase is perennial, and colonizes abundantly
shells of live mollusks and barnacles on the intertidal zone.
