the specimen was collected from the rocky shore of the spray zone of north kerala while sampling seaweeds. the stem like structure is hard and many originates from the same base. can anyone help?
I'm not an expert of seaweed but I agree with Geddada Mohan Narasimha Rao it looks like an animal, perhaps an hydroid. would you pl. add some photographs with a closest view?
It is not all Jania, better to take cross section of the speciemen for proper identification, further I have collected this type of spccimens during the collection of seaweeds in the intertidal rocky surfaces of East coast of India. In general I have noticed this specimen in infra littoral fringe zone of the intertidal rocky surfaces along with Gracilaria, Sargassum and Spongomorpha. Thank you
Jania has no woody stem that is longer to that magnitude, and because of that; I suggested two options and requested for more closely taken photos for confirmation.
Dear Jose, morphology is not only criteria for identification, why don't you take a cross section for proper identification. Still i am thinking is an animal rather than seaweed.
I agree that it looks like an Hydroid (Leptothecata ?), but closer views are needed to see if hydrotheca and gonotheca do occurnad to see their precise morphology.