Brackish-Water Algae from the Hawaiian Islands 1 
Isabella A. Abbott 2 
Marine algae from the Hawaiian Islands 
(in older literature, the Sandwich Islands) 
have been collected or studied by a few phy- 
cologists. Brackish-water species, however, 
although essentially marine in relationship, 
have not been systematically studied for this 
area. 
The present study of the brackish-water 
species was begun late in 1943, in connection 
with a survey co-operatively conducted by 
the University of Hawaii and the Territorial 
Board of Agriculture and Forestry, on fish¬ 
ponds bordering the ocean. At first, two 
ponds on the island of Oahu were selected 
for study. In the following year, however, 
more data and investigation of other ponds 
seemed desirable. Three additional ponds 
on Oahu and eight on the island of Molokai 
were selected and included in the survey. 
The study of algae, as well as that of animal 
life, was thus extended to include all these 
fishponds. 
It soon became apparent that the variety 
of algal forms present in the chosen ponds 
constituted so large a problem that it would 
be best to enlist the aid of certain special¬ 
ists. Myxophyceae were sent to Francis 
Drouet of the Chicago Natural History 
1 Research Paper 7, Cooperative Fisheries Staff 
of the Territorial Board of Agriculture and For¬ 
estry and the University of Hawaii. Manuscript 
received February 28, 1947. 
2 The author completed most of the work on 
this paper while on the Department of Botany 
staff, University of Hawaii, and finished the 
.manuscript at the University of California, Berk¬ 
eley, with the aid of the excellent algal herbarium 
(cited as U. C. Herb.) and library at the latter 
institution. 
Museum and diatoms were sent to Paul 
S. Conger of the U. S. National Museum, 
where earlier collections of Hawaiian dia¬ 
toms are deposited. In the present report are 
included the bulk of the Chlorophyceae, and 
all Phaeophyceae and Rhodophyceae. 
In the course of this study, a preliminary 
account of some of these algae by J. T. 
Conover, made under the direction of G. F. 
Papenfuss at the University of California, 
was received. Since the majority of the spe¬ 
cies in the notes of Conover had already 
been determined, there was little in his ac¬ 
count that requires special mention here. 
The present writer reports 9 genera of 
green algae, 1 of brown, and 11 of red. The 
algae studied are in the writer’s herbarium; 
duplicate sets will be deposited in the her¬ 
barium of the Bishop Museum, and else¬ 
where if quantity permits. 
Species listed seem to include those previ¬ 
ously known only from the marine, or only 
from fresh-water, habitats, with the excep¬ 
tion of one species of Polysiphonia. This 
genus, to the writer’s knowledge, is known 
only from strictly saline or brackish-water 
habitats; it was found in a fresh-water 
pond, and was accompanied by such a well- 
known fresh-water genus as Spirogyra. 
The writer is indebted to Charles Engard, 
who collected nearly all the specimens of 
algae. Members of the University fisheries 
staff, especially Yoshinori Tanada, were 
extremely helpful with habitat data. Thanks 
are extended to Kazue Watanabe, who exe¬ 
cuted most of the drawings. 
NOV 5 
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