Gracilaria tenuistipitata

Thallus delicate, slender near the base, solitary or aggregate, caespitose, cartilaginous, 20-50 cm high, greenish-brown to dark brown or purple. Main axes cylindrical (0.4-1.0 mm in diam.). Branching alternate with one to four orders of elongate branches. Branches and branchlets sparse or abundant, cylindrical, nonconstricted basally, gradually tapering to acute tips. Terasporangia ovoid in transverse section, embedded in the cortex, cruciately divided, 20-30×30-45 mm. Cystocarps spherical, markedly rostrate and constricted at the base, 0.4-1.0 mm high, 0.6-1.2 mm in diam. Attachment by small disc-like holdfast. Growing on dead corals, gravel, shells, in the intertidal zone.

North America. Subtropical and tropical seas of Pacific Ocean. Asia (China, Hainan Islands, Japan), Southeast (Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines).