Abstract
A survey of seaweeds was made in Eritrea in December 1995 and January 1996 on some islands of the Dahlak Archipelago and the surroundings of the port town of Massawa. During our study 101 specific and infraspecific taxa were identified, including 26 Chlorophyta, 20 Phaeophyta and 55 Rhodophyta. The survey resulted in 36 new records for Eritrea (11 Chlorophyta, 7 Phaeophyta and 18 Rhodophyta). Of these Eritrean records, 26 are new for the Red Sea (5 Chlorophyta, 4 Phaeophyta and 17 Rhodophyta). Comparison of records of seaweeds from localities in Eritrea to those from other localities in Eritrea as well as from other coasts of the western Indian Ocean have revealed that the regional distribution of seaweeds in the Red Sea is very patchy and that generally the area seems to be undersampled. The comparisons have also underscored the stressful seasonal environmental conditions for macroalgae in the southern Red Sea.
Highlights
The environment The coastal zone of Eritrea lies in the southern part of the Red Sea and it is just over 1000 km long, excluding the Dahlak Archipelago
The maritime environment is controlled by the Indian Ocean monsoon system resulting in two distinct seasons: the cold season and the hot season
Data for each taxon include: the accepted name and author, synonyms often used in literature on Red Sea algae, references where descriptions of the algae can be found, the site of collection and records from earlier workers and/or by us, to which are added data from Lipkin (1987) and Lipkin & Silva (2002)
Summary
The environment The coastal zone of Eritrea lies in the southern part of the Red Sea and it is just over 1000 km long, excluding the Dahlak Archipelago. The maritime environment is controlled by the Indian Ocean monsoon system resulting in two distinct seasons: the cold season (north-eastern monsoon, October to April) and the hot season (south-western monsoon, May to September). Winds blow to the north-west during the cold season and to the south-east in the hot season. The water temperature in shallow reef areas fluctuates widely, with daily mean values of about 25 °C in the cold season, 35 °C in the hot season. These shallow reef areas become dominated by zone forming algae whose biomass decreases during the hot season (Ateweberhan, 2004)
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