I have collected this seaweed in the intertidial rocky shore of Ancash (north central coast of Peru). Does anybody have a suggestion about its genus or species? (I know I have to do microscopic observations but any idea would be nice!)
It very much looks like a bleached gelatinous red algae; kind of Gelidiales. Perhaps there are also green mutants around. In Chilean Porphyra/Pyroia species or in red algae from high light environments you may also see this type of colour
For me, it looks like a species of Gracilaria, but the photo is not very clear to establish this more confidently. Also try making cross sections of the thallus and post the photos here for further assessment.
It can be many species of Rhodophyte. No doubt that it was bleached. In my opinion, It might be Gracilaria or Hypnea but you should do cross section of the thallus and upload the pictures for further assessment of the genus.
Definitely it is a red alga (Rhodophyta) as Razy Hoffman and previous answers said. But with this fragment only it is very difficult to identify which species.
It may be Grateloupia filicina, in our coast ( East coast of India) we having two species of Grateloupia such as filicina and lithophila. Tha above picture is similar to the morphology of filicina. If you examine the cross sections of cystocarpic and tetrasporic platns of the species then you can identify whether it was Gracilaria or Gratiloupia. Thank you