Studies on the shedding of Carpospores in Gracilaria corticata J.Ag.

Suto (1950 a, 1950 b) studied the relation between sporulation of seaweeds and seawater temperature. He observed that shedding of tetraspores Started in Gelidium when the seawater temperature rose to 2 0 ' ~ and carpospores to 2 4 ) ~ I Further he observed that there was an optimum temperature range for shedding of spores and abnormal temperature delayed or hastened shedding by about 20 days. Also, he noticed that shedding of monospores of Gelidium amansii increased during calm weather and decreased during rough weather. Segawa et. a1.(1955 a.1955 b)and Jones (1957) studied the nature and mechanism of carpospore liberation in Gracilaria verrucosa (Huds) papenfs. Takeuchi et. a1.(1956) studied the daily output of monospores from cultures of the Conchocelis phase of Porphyra tenera Kjellm. Oza and Krishnamunhy (1968) investigated the carposporic rhythm in Gracilaria verrucosa and reported a peak sporulation of the alga in December and a gradual decline during March - May. In this paper observations on the nature of carpospore output in Gracilaria cortlcata J. Ag. and an estimate of the quantity of spores liberated by the alga during August to December 1969 are presented and discussed.