Ida T. Capacio1, Angelika Jeanette Loreno,1 Pia Sesbreño1, Brandon Hargraves2, Anicia Q. Hurtado3
1Bureau of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources – National Seaweed Technology Development Center, Cabid-an, Sorsogon City 4700 Philippines, 2The Aquaculture Group Pte Ltd 60 Eu Tong Sen Street, #02-02 Furama City Centre, 059804 Singapore, 3Integrated Services for the Development of Aquaculture and Fisheries (ISDA) Inc. MacArthur Highway, Tabuc Suba, Iloilo City 5000 Philippines
Correspondence: Ida T. Capacio, icapacio@bfar.da.gov.ph; ctikaen@gmail.com, Anicia Q. Hurtado, anicia.hurtado@gmail.com
Asparagopsis taxiformis is a typical tropical to warm temperate red seaweed which abounds throughout the tropical and warm-temperate parts of the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific. Lately, this red seaweed has boosted a renewed scientific, media and commercial interest mainly because of the discovery of its properties as a potent methane release inhibitor from ruminant animals.
- taxiformis has limited distributions in the Philippines. The discovery of occurrence of this seaweed in Dancalan, Bulusan, Sorsogon is something worth reporting for the first time. The thalli were found attached from sandy to hard substrate by rhizoids with the presence creeping, harpoon-like barbed branchlet at the upper intertidal and in tide pools (1.5-2m deep during the lowest tide). The erect branches (6-10cm tall) is composed of a central terete axis that give rise to densely arranged feathery or plumose branches which comprise of numerous fine, delicate, and densely determinate branchlets that are disposed around an axis. The cystocarps were spherical (6-8 µm in diameter) in shape attached to the main branch by a slender stem (4-7.5 µm long) while the antheridia were cuneiform in shape (4.5 – 7 µm long). Released spores from the cystocarps ranged from 0.8 – 1.1 um x 0.3 – 0.4 um in size. Both female and male reproductive structures were found on the same plant from March to June.
These preliminary findings will shed more lights on the understanding of the biology of A. taxiformis which may lead to its possible cultivation.