''Mastocarpus papillatus'', sometimes called Turkish washcloth, black tar spot, or grapestone is a species of

red algae Red algae, or Rhodophyta (, ; ), are one of the oldest groups of eukaryotic algae. The Rhodophyta also comprises one of the largest phyla of algae, containing over 7,000 currently recognized species with taxonomic revisions ongoing. The majority ...

in the family Phyllophoraceae. It is sometimes confused with the distantly related ''Turkish towel'' ('' Chondracanthus exasperatus'') which is of a similar texture but larger. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''papillatus'' ('with papillae') is due to the nipple-like projections on the female

gametophyte A gametophyte () is one of the two alternation of generations, alternating multicellular organism, multicellular phases in the life cycles of plants and algae. It is a haploid multicellular organism that develops from a haploid spore that has on ...

which can give the texture of a

terrycloth Terrycloth, terry cloth, terry cotton, terry toweling, terry, terry towel, or simply toweling is a fabric woven with many protruding loops of thread which can absorb large amounts of water. It can be manufactured by weaving or knitting. Terryclo ...

washcloth found at a

Turkish bath A hammam ( ar, حمّام, translit=ḥammām, tr, hamam) or Turkish bath is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited ...

Distribution

Despite the

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

, it grows nowhere near

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. It is instead native to the northeastern

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and commonly can be found in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, and

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. It has been found growing as far north as the

Commander Islands The Commander Islands, Komandorski Islands, or Komandorskie Islands (russian: Командо́рские острова́, ''Komandorskiye ostrova'') are a series of treeless, sparsely populated Russian islands in the Bering Sea located about ea ...

and the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admini ...

, and as far south as

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Habitat

It grows on

rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess M ...

substrates in the high- to mid-

intertidal zone The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species o ...

s and has been found growing at depths of 250 m. Like many red algae species, it uses

phycoerythrin Phycoerythrin (PE) is a red protein-pigment complex from the light-harvesting phycobiliprotein family, present in cyanobacteria, red algae and cryptophytes, accessory to the main chlorophyll pigments responsible for photosynthesis.The red pigmen ...

photosynthesize Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored in ...

which allows it to grow deeper than plants using other pigments.

Description

Turkish washcloth is reddish-brown to almost black, with males paler than females and lacking the signature papillae on the blades. The blades are branched and small at less than 15 cm long, as one would expect to a plant with a diminutive common name. The first blades in the spring are thin, purple and lack papillae. Later in the year the thalli dry out and become

grey Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...

and lifeless. '' Mastocarpus jardinii'' is a similar species, and can be confused with ''M. papillatus''. '' Mazzaella affinis'' thalli looks similar in shape and color to male ''M. papillatus'', but are smaller and grow in thick mats and not as individuals. It also can be confused with other species with ''Petrocelis'' phases , such as '' Pikea'', other '' Mastocarpus'' spp., '' Ralfisa'', and ''

Hildenbrandia ''Hildenbrandia'' is a genus of thalloid red alga comprising about 26 species. The slow-growing, non-mineralized thalli take a crustose form. ''Hildenbrandia'' reproduces by means of conceptacles and produces tetraspores. Morphology ''Hildenb ...

'', thought the last two are thinner than the Turkish towel crust.

Life cycle

''M. papillatus'' has a relatively complex reproductive cycle. Male

s discharge nonflagellated sperm to drift in the current until they attach to the trichogynes of female plants. There the sperm perform

mitosis In cell biology, mitosis () is a part of the cell cycle in which replicated chromosomes are separated into two new nuclei. Cell division by mitosis gives rise to genetically identical cells in which the total number of chromosomes is mainta ...

without

cell division Cell division is the process by which a parent cell (biology), cell divides into two daughter cells. Cell division usually occurs as part of a larger cell cycle in which the cell grows and replicates its chromosome(s) before dividing. In eukar ...

, turning into a

sperm Sperm is the male reproductive cell, or gamete, in anisogamous forms of sexual reproduction (forms in which there is a larger, female reproductive cell and a smaller, male one). Animals produce motile sperm with a tail known as a flagellum, whi ...

atium.

Fertilisation Fertilisation or fertilization (see spelling differences), also known as generative fertilisation, syngamy and impregnation, is the fusion of gametes to give rise to a new individual organism or offspring and initiate its development. Proce ...

then proceeds through a fertilization pore between the trichogyne and the spermatium. The

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

s then grow into

tetrasporophyte The tetrasporaphyte is a phase in the life history of algae which bear tetrasporangia. This phase is usually morphologically similar to the gametophyte A gametophyte () is one of the two alternating multicellular phases in the life cycles of p ...

s which are more or less copies of their parents. Alternately, the tetrasporophyte goes through the ''Petrocelis'' phase (so named as it was thought to be a distinct genus, '' Petrocelis'', of Phyllophoraceae) and grows into a crust that looks like spilled

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bit ...

, inspiring the ''black tar spot'' common name. The tetrasporophyte undergoes

meiosis Meiosis (; , since it is a reductional division) is a special type of cell division of germ cells in sexually-reproducing organisms that produces the gametes, such as sperm or egg cells. It involves two rounds of division that ultimately resu ...

and produce

tetrasporangia Red algae, or Rhodophyta (, ; ), are one of the oldest groups of eukaryotic algae. The Rhodophyta also comprises one of the largest phyla of algae, containing over 7,000 currently recognized species with taxonomic revisions ongoing. The majority ...

which release spores to germinate elsewhere. Eventually the crust grows into a typical adult plant. This

crustose Crustose is a habit of some types of algae and lichens in which the organism grows tightly appressed to a substrate, forming a biological layer. ''Crustose'' adheres very closely to the substrates at all points. ''Crustose'' is found on rocks and ...

phase is shared by all members of the genus '' Mastocarpus'' as well as those in '' Pikea''.

Ecology

Turkish washcloth is food for many animals, including ''

Echinolittorina ziczac ''Echinolittorina ziczac'', previously known as ''Littorina ziczac'', common name the "zebra periwinkle", is a species of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Littorinidae. This species lives in the tropical Western Atlantic ...

'', ''

Littorina ''Littorina'' is a genus of small sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Littorinidae, the winkles or periwinkles.WoRMS (2011). Littorina Férussac, 1822. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies ...

'',

Amphipoda Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 9,900 amphipod species so far desc ...

, ''

Lottia ''Lottia'' is a genus of sea snails, specifically true limpets, marine gastropod mollusks in the subfamily Lottiinae of the family Lottiidae, one of the families of true limpets. Species According to the World Register of Marine Species (W ...

'', '' Pholis crassispina'', '' Lottia scutum'',

Trochidae The Trochidae, common name top-snails or top-shells, are a family of various sized sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the subclass Vetigastropoda. This family is commonly known as the top-snails because in many species the shell resembles ...

, '' Lacuna vincta'', '' Stenosoma'', ''

Mopalia swanii Mopalia is a genus of chitons in the family Mopaliidae. Species Species include:

'', and '' Cryptochiton stelleri''. Like the ''

Porphyra ''Porphyra'' is a genus of coldwater seaweeds that grow in cold, shallow seawater. More specifically, it belongs to red algae phylum of laver species (from which comes laverbread), comprising approximately 70 species.Brodie, J.A. and Irvine, ...

'' species used to make

nori Nori is a dried edible seaweed used in Japanese cuisine, made from species of the red algae genus ''Pyropia'', including ''P. yezonesis'' and '' P. tenera''. It has a strong and distinctive flavor, and is often used to wrap rolls of sushi or '' ...

, ''M. papillatus'' is susceptible to infection by the

parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has c ...

oomycete Oomycota forms a distinct phylogenetic lineage of fungus-like eukaryotic microorganisms, called oomycetes (). They are filamentous and heterotrophic, and can reproduce both sexually and asexually. Sexual reproduction of an oospore is the resul ...

Pythium porphyrae ''Pythium porphyrae'', is a parasitism, parasitic species of oomycete in the family Pythiaceae. It is the cause of red rot disease or red wasting disease, also called ' () in Japanese language, Japanese. The Botanical name, specific epithet '' ...

'', or red rot disease, which can kill large colonies. It is also susceptible to infection by '' Pythium marinum''.

Uses

Grapestone is

edible An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from "eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushroo ...

and can be cooked in

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ing ...

s or stir-fries but care must be taken as overcooking can turn the plant mushy and

gelatinous Gelatin or gelatine (from la, gelatus meaning "stiff" or "frozen") is a translucent, colorless, flavorless food ingredient, commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts. It is brittle when dry and rubbery when moist. It may also ...

. This property can be exploited to use it as a

thickening agent A thickening agent or thickener is a substance which can increase the viscosity of a liquid without substantially changing its other properties. Edible thickeners are commonly used to thicken sauces, soups, and puddings without altering their t ...

like its close relative ''

Mastocarpus stellatus ''Mastocarpus stellatus,'' commonly known as carrageenan moss or false Irish moss, is a species in the Rhodophyceae division, a red algae seaweed division, and the Phyllophoracea family. ''M. stellatus'' is closely related to Irish Moss (''Cho ...

''. Grapestone has a similar flavor to

oysters Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...

. Grapestone is easily foraged from the shore, but like any wild species

overharvesting Overexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to replenish. The term app ...

is possible. By grabbing the longer blades and pulling sideways, the shorter blades and holdfast may remain on the rock and live on. ''M. papillatus'' is also thought to have

antimicrobial An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms or stops their growth. Antimicrobial medicines can be grouped according to the microorganisms they act primarily against. For example, antibiotics are used against bacteria, and antifungals ar ...

properties.

Gallery

File:Mastocarpus papillatus, Cambria.jpg File:Mastocarpus papillatus from Vancouver.jpg File:Mastocarpus papillatus on Petrocelis.jpg

References

External links

* *
''Mastocarpus papillatus'' page at iNaturalist

''Mastocarpus papillatus'' page at WoRMS

''Mastocarpus papillatus'' page at Algaebase
{{Taxonbar, from=Q40687890 Plants described in 1843 Phyllophoraceae