Gelidium elegans

Thallus cartilaginous, branched, caespitose, 10–30 cm high, purplish-red, composed of prostrate and erect compressed to flattened axes, 0.5–2 mm wide, 250–300 μm thick, bearing filiform, elegant branches. Branching distichous, bi-, tripinnate; branches alternate, opposite. Ultimate branchlets setaceus, unconstricted at the base, pointed at the apices. In transverse section, cortex composed of 2 rows of outer, small roundish cells, 2.5–5 μm diam., and 1–2 rows of larger inner cells, 10–15 μm diam.; medulla composed of colorless roundish to oval cells, 17.5–25 μm across, on periphery surrounded by small (5–7.5 μm diam.) cells of rhizoidal filaments. Attachment by stoloniferous holdfast to rocks, in the low intertidal to subtidal zone (to a depth of 20 m) in open coasts.

Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Russia (the Sea of Japan).