About Codium fragile (Suringar) Har.
Codium fragile (Suringar) Har. is a siphonous green alga. In Great Britain and Ireland, this species is divided into two subspecies that are similar to one another, and both are dark green in color. This alga forms long, erect, finger-like fronds that grow to 40 cm or longer and branch dichotomously. The branch cortex is made up of closely packed utricles: these are small, cylindrical, club-shaped single-cell structures that can reach up to 1200 micrometres in length. The rounded tips of these packed utricles give the frond a velvety texture. During low tide, the fronds hang down from rocks, which gives the species its common nickname "dead man's fingers". The "fingers" (branches) reach up to one centimeter wide and sometimes grow over 30 centimeters long. Codium fragile grows in the low intertidal zone and subtidal areas on high-energy beaches. It has no gametophyte stage, and both male and female gametes are produced on separate individual plants.
