Nemastoma or lobophpra

[drebay]

I’m horrible at IDing algae and have gotten a bit lost in the diversity of some genera. What are your thoughts, nemastoma or lobophora? Leaning towards the lobo, so have isolated it, but wanted opinions for the more informed before I remove it.

 

[WheatToast]

Could we get underwater pictures? I am leaning more towards Nemastoma, which is red and gelatinous while Lobophora grows in brown sheets. However, given the diversity of red algae, there is a possibility is could be neither.

 

[drebay]

Thanks for taking a look @WheatToast Tried a couple different shots and can get others if these aren’t helpful. One with red light on and white spotlight gives an idea of texture maybe a bit better (?).

 

[Eatfrenchfries]

Could be the beginning of a type of botryocladia. Red bubble algae (there's a number of similar that algaes get grouped into this) to build a little base of bubbles and once that's secure you'll see the beginnings of a stem come out.

Could be nemastoma but the piece you have encrusting doesn't look complete. Like a frag vs colony. They have a different look. You should grow it out some more and see if it changes.

Lobophora is pretty easy to identify at any stage of development. Red algae can get tricky and I find a lot more confusion in identifying them.

Emerald crabs would probably eat the algae but not target it.

 

[WheatToast]

Not so sure it's red bubble algae since the bulbous parts of the algae are fused together like in Nemastoma and Predaea, but in any case, this is probably a desirable algae (though Botryocladia without a stem (ex. B. pyriformis and B. skottsbergii) is a pest).

Nemastoma:

Predaea:

B. skottsbergii: