Gracilaria eucheumatoides

Thallus prostrate, forming entangled hemispherical masses or loose tufts, 6-11-(30) cm high, dark purplish, to dark brown with white mottling. Axes compressed, thick and coarse, stiff, Branching irregular, pinnate to dichotomous. Branches 1-3 cm long, 0.5-1.0 cm broad, 2-3.5 mm thick. Margins raised or thickened dentate. Tetrasporangia oval, cruciately divided, imbedded in cortical layer on ventral surface. Cystocarps globose, prominent, to 2 mm in diam., slightly constricted at the base. Pericarp 200-365 μm thick consists of 10-13 layers of oval to spherical cells. Carpospores 20x25 μm. Attachment by discoid holdfasts and by finger-like haptera from branches at points of contact with substrate. Growing on the upper subtidal dead coral fragments, rocks and pebbles on sandy-muddy bottom in wave exposed areas.

Indian Ocean Islands, South-west Asia (China, Japan, Taiwan, Xisha Islands) South-east Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines), Australia and New Zealand, Pacific Islands.