Chapter 30 



The Importance of Fungi in the Sea 



J. KOHLMEYER 



INTRODUCTION 



T 



he following survey records recent knowledge on marine fungi 

 belonging to the Ascomycetes and Deuteromycetes (Fungi Im- 

 perfecti). Lower fungi ( Phycomycetes ) may be neglected here, 

 as Sparrow (56) has treated tliem recently in a comprehensive 

 book. 



Marine mycology is a rather young field, which has not been 

 commonly known before Barghoorn and Linder's extensive pub- 

 lication in 1944 (3). Marine fungi were also detected and de- 

 scribed sporadically since about 1850, but these scattered col- 

 lections mostly got lost in the abundance of new descriptions of 

 terrestrial species during the past century. 



I shall first define the term "marine fungi" as we will use it 

 here. In the present paper "marine" fungi are those that grow 

 and reproduce either submerged in the sea or on the seashore 

 on intertidal substrates (sand, parts of plants, etc.). Spores of 

 fungi that normally develop terrestrially may also be found in 

 the sea, of course. We will not include such species that were 

 isolated out of marine environments, e.g., sea water or tidal-flat 

 muds ( 16, 54 ) . Even if such collections were made directly in 

 the sea, no direct evidence has proved that these isolated organ- 

 isms had been active in this habitat. These investigations simply 

 indicate the existence of viable parts of fungi ( spores or hyphae ) 

 but do not explain where they developed. Of course, we do not 

 consider here those fungi that have been foimd only in fresh 

 water. Besides "marine fungi" in the above defined sense, some 

 inhabitants of brackish water are treated. 



Most of the marine species are very adaptable in their 



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