Association with Cystoseira crinitophylla

Description (English)

This association is characterised by the brown alga Cystoseira crinitophylla. Cystoseira crinitophylla was first thought to be an endemic of the Adriatic, but has been found more or less throughout the Mediterranean, always associated with other Cystoseiras in the upper infralittoral. It has been sighted in the Gulf of Trieste (as Cystoseira crinita) in the association with Cystoseiretum barbatae, with Cystoseira barbatula in the Aegean Sea, with Cystoseira crinita or Cystoseira brachycarpa in Corsica, in the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Strait of Sicily, and in the Ionian Sea. What could be meant is a stenotherm sciaphilous morphotype of a group of species (Cystoseira crinita, Cystoseira pelagosae, Cystoseira crinitophylla) in an advanced state of speciation. It is thought that the association with Cystoseira crinitophylla can be considered to be a facies found in turbid water whose temperature is not above 18

Source: EUNIS habitat classification