ZoBell — 132 — Marine Microbiology 



marinum, Eurychasma dicksonii, Sirolpidium bryopsidis, Pontisma lageni- 

 dioides, Peter senia lobata, Peter senia pollagaster, Pleotrachelus olpidium, 

 Pleotrachelus rosenvingii, Ectrogella perforans, Chytridium megastomum, 

 and Chytridium polysiphoniae. They were growing on either living or 

 moribund marine algae. 



Near Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Sparrow (1936) isolated and 

 described 15 marine species of Phycomycetes, two Myxomycetes, and a 

 Protomyxa-\\^e protozoan. Sparrow pointed out that marine fungi have 

 been only very incompletely studied. Some of the fungi observed by him 

 are true parasites which attacked healthy host plants unassisted by other 

 organisms. Included in this category were Ectrogella perforans, Eurychas- 

 midium tumefaciens, Olpidium sphacellarum, Rozella marina, and Chy- 

 tridium magastomum, none of which was observed living saprophytically. 

 Rhizophydium discinctum and Petersenia andreei were only doubtfully par- 

 asitic. Labyrinthula chattoni and Thraustochytrium proliferum were 

 saprophytes found only on dead algal cells. Rhizophydium globosum, 

 Pontisma lagenidioides, Sirolpidium bryopsidis, and Chytridium poly- 

 siphoniae were true parasites on certain host plants and saprophytic on 

 others. 



Besides noting the apparent obligate association of fungi with 

 marine plants which strongly suggests that the fungi are true marine 

 species. Sparrow noted the abundance in the sea of so-called chytridia- 

 ceous fungi which possess biciliate zoospores. Most of the true chytrids 

 inhabiting fresh-water algae are uniciliate, while in the sea the biciliate 

 forms predominate. 



Barghoorn and Linder (1944), who observed along the coast of 

 Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut many marine fungi which were 

 quite unlike any known terrestrial organisms, were impressed by the 

 diversity of fungi found in the sea. The following Fungi Imperfecti were 

 isolated and described: Phial ophorophoma litoralis, Diplodia orae-maris, 

 Botryophialophora marina, Orbimyces spectabilis, Alternaria maritima, 

 Helicoma maritimum, H. salinum, and Speira pelagica. Marine Pyre- 

 nomycetes as follows were also described: Samarosporella pelagica, Ceri- 

 osporopsis halima, Remispora maritima, Amphisphaeria maritima, Lentes- 

 cospora submarina, Halosphaeria appendiculata, Leptosphaeria orae-maris, 

 Sphaerulina orae-maris, Peritrichospora integra, P. lacera, Halophiobolus 

 cylindricus, H. opacus, H. longirostris , H. maritimus, H. medusa, H. hali- 

 mus, and H. salinus. Most of these will be recognized as not only new 

 species, but as new genera, since, with few exceptions, the organisms have 

 no counterpart in terrestrial species or genera. 



The fungi described by Barghoorn and Linder (1944) were found 

 in both brackish water and sea water of normal salinity. Most of them 

 grew better in nutrient sea water than in corresponding fresh-water media, 

 as illustrated by data on radial growth of mycelia, expressed in milli- 

 meters per day: 



Fresh water Sea water 



pK 7 . 2 pH 7 . 4 



Halophiobolus opacus 0.52 3 . 10 



Halophiobolus salinus 2 . 74 3.16 



Ceriosporopsis halima i-33 ^-^7 



Peritrichospora integra 0.79 0.96 



Helicoma salinum 0.68 1.14 



Tolerance of relatively high salt concentrations was demonstrated by 

 growth of the fungi in media containing three times as much salt as nor- 



