The rabbitfish Siganus canaliculatus is one of the few cultured herbivorous marine teleosts. To better understand the digestive physiology of this fish and provide data for designing formulated feed using macroalgae as an ingredient, the changes of visceral properties and digestive enzyme activities were investigated after the juveniles were fed on different types of food including raw fish (RF), formulated diet (FD) or macroalgae Enteromorpha prolifra (EP) and Gracilaria lemaneiformis (GL) for eight weeks. The results showed that the hepatosomatic and viscerosomatic indices in the RF and FD groups, as well as the relative intestine length (RIL) in the EP and GL groups, were significantly higher than those in other groups. Additionally, differences in the histological structure of the liver and anterior intestine were also observed among different dietary groups. The hepatic nuclei were displaced to the periphery by lipid inclusions in fish fed RF. The highest levels of mucosal folds were found in the anterior intestines of fish fed macroalgae. Digestive enzyme activity profiles showed obvious fluctuations in the first three weeks, and then leveled off in the following weeks. The levels of protease, lipase and α-amylase in the alimentary tract showed changes related to the levels of dietary protein, lipid and carbohydrate, respectively. Although macroalgae significantly inhibited the activity of protease in the stomach, it increased RIL and the number of mucosal folds in the anterior intestine so as to compensate for the influences on protease activities in the stomach. This study suggests that the digestive tract of rabbitfish can well adapt to different diets, and needs about three weeks to physiologically acclimatize to the nutritional status, thus implying that rabbitfish are somewhat omnivorous.

Macroalgae have long been used as biological indicators of marine ecosystem health worldwide due to their ecological importance and sensitivity to environmental stress. A number of previous studies have utilized macroalgal communities in monitoring surveys of environmental conditions. This study examined the characteristics and patterns of marine macroalgal communities in the Yellow Sea off the western coast of Korea. Macroalgae were analyzed for the number of species, biomass, and coverage ratio by macroalgal type. During the study period, 82 macroalgal species (10 green algae, 17 brown algae, and 55 red algae) were identified at the five study sites, with the highest number of species found at Gwanrido and Uido (both containing 41 species) and the lowest at Daeijakdo (27 species). The average biomass (via dry weight) was 98.63 g/m², consisting of green algae (8.39 g/m²), brown algae (35.08 g/m²), and red algae (55.16 g/m²). The dominant macroalgae species in terms of biomass were Corallina pilulifera, Sargassum thunbergii, and Ulva australis in the intertidal zones, and Botryocladia wrightii and Gelidium elegans in the subtidal zones. Richness, evenness, and diversity indices based on the biomass of abundant species were 5.08, 0.65, and 2.30, respectively, over the entire study area. Based on the evaluation of the environmental states by the community indices, overall, the Ecological Evaluation Index of macroalgae communities in the study area was marked as “Good-Moderate”, but was determined as “Moderate-Low” at several sites during summer. The results can be a direct approach in the assessment of coastal habitats in which anthropogenic as well as climate change influences persist.

Since 2015, a novel green tide has been recurring in the coastal areas of Qinhuangdao at the western coast of the Bohai Sea in China, threatening the environment and ecosystem of the Beidaihe seaside holiday resort along the coast. Micro-propagules of the green algae including gametes, spores, micro-germlings and micro-vegetative fragments play an important role in the formation of green tides. They serve as a “seed source” of green macroalgae, and their distributions could reflect and influence the “algae source” of green tides. In this study, monthly surveys in the inshore and offshore areas of the Qinhuangdao coast were conducted from April to September 2016 and in January 2017 to investigate the tempo-spatial distribution patterns and the biomass variations of the green algae micro-propagules. The obtained results show that micro-propagules were mainly distributed in the inshore areas with a significantly decreasing abundance towards offshore areas. Their biomass was highest in July and August, and lowest in winter. The areas that were affected by the green tides showed a remarkably higher abundance of micro-propagules compared to other areas. These micro-propagules could serve as the “seed” source of green tides. Their distribution patterns indicate that the green tide in the coastal areas of Qinhuangdao originated locally.

At the end of May 2008, a massive bloom of macroalgae occurred in the western Yellow Sea off China and lasted for nearly two months, and annual blooms have occurred since then on. During bloom period, the surface-drifting macroalgae have showed an interesting pattern dominated by a banded structure, and the distance between neighboring bands ranged from hundreds of meters to about 6 km with a peak at 1–1.5 km, which is an order of higher than the scale of Langmuir circulation of 50–100 m. In order to explain this new phenomenon, ocean current data obtained from a Doppler current profiler off Qingdao was used to implement stability analysis. By numerically solving the resulting differential Orr-Sommerfeld equation, the secondary circulation induced from the instability of the Emkan current was found to fit well with the observed spatial scale of the surface-drifting macroalgae’s banded structure. As the wind driven Emkan current exist universally in the global ocean, it is reasonable to conclude that the banded structure with kilometers distance between adjoining bands is ubiquitous. We found a new circulation in the upper ocean which is important for exchange of energy, materials and gas between the upper ocean and subsurface layer.

Since 2007, large-scale green tides dominated by Ulva prolifera consecutively bloomed in the Yellow Sea and caused great economic losses. The fouling U. prolifera on the Pyropia yezoensis aquaculture rafts in the Subei Shoal was regarded as the major source of the floating biomass. However, it was still unclear about the seed source of fouling green macroalgae attached on the rafts. In this study, the field surveys and the indoor experiments were conducted to reveal the source of propagules of the fouling green macroalgae on the rafts and to study the anti-fouling material for P. yezoensis aquaculture rafts which could possibly be a feasible strategy to control the green tides in the Yellow Sea. The results showed that (1) micro-propagules of several green macroalgal species, including U. prolifera, U. linza, U. compressa, U. flexuosa, and Blidingia sp. coexisted in the waters and sediments in the Subei Shoal and their proportion remarkably changed over time; (2) the bamboo poles with peeling treatment could significantly reduce the amount of U. prolifera micro-propagules attached. This study confirmed that the micro-propagules distributed in the Subei Shoal area were the precursors of the green tides, and provided a feasible method to control the Yellow Sea large-scale green tides at the beginning.

Green macroalgae Chaetomorpha aerea and C. linum are taxonomically confused. In this paper, we tried morphological and molecular analyses to separate these two species. C. aerea and C. linum can be distinguished from morphological characteritics, such as frond dimension, cells size and shape, their mean length/width ratios(LWR), and cell walls constriction. Thalli of C. aerea attenuate basipetally, with diameter 270-500μm at upper portion, 160-360μm at middle portion, 100-160μm at basal portion. For the upper part, the length of cells is less than their diameter. Cell walls usually constrict at the dissepiments, which are pellucid or colorless and give the filament beaded appearance. In contrast, thalli of C. linum often have a constant diameter of 90-300μm within the same individual, cell walls usually do not constrict and cells are cylindrical or barrel shaped. The LWR is larger than that of C. aerea. Results show that the pairwise distance between two species is 3.6%-3.7% for 18S rRNA gene and 53.5%-54.3% for ITS region. In phylogeny, they distribute at distant clades, which confirms a genetic divergence at molecular level. In addition, morphological data indicates that filament diameter of C. linum samples is highly variable, ranging from 90μm to 300μm. Then these two species can be considered as separate species.

A two-month study was conducted to test the effects of macroalgae on the growth and survivorship of juvenile lined seahorse (Hippocampus erectus) in aquaria. Twenty-day old seahorses were cultured in the tanks with green alga Chaetomorpha linum, red alga Gracilaria tikvahiae, green plastic artificial plant (stargrass), and black plastic net, respectively. Increases in wet mass and standard length for the seahorses were significantly higher in the tanks with macroalgae than those without macroalgae. The seahorse survivorships in the two macroalgal treatments were also significantly higher than those of the two treatments without macroalgae. In the treatments with macroalgae, the DO and pH were higher than those without marcoalgae. During the experiment, the color of seahorses was changed to certain extent. In the green background (the treatments with C. linum and stargrass), 24.1%-28.4% of black seahorses decreased over time; whereas in the black (plastic net) or brown (G. tikvahiae) background treatments, 14.1%-16.3% of yellow seahorses decreased over time, for matching that of the background. Furthermore, the survival rate of seahorse was correlation with DO and pH, and strong correlation with standard length, wet mass and CF. Polyculture with macroalgae, survival rates of seahorse were higher than without macroaglae.

To discover the distribution of green algal micro-propagules in the Subei Shoal and clarify the growth of green macroalgae attached on Pyropia aquaculture rafts, an integrated investigation in Pyropia aquaculture area and one cruise in the coastal area of the Subei Shoal were carried out from March to May in 2013. The results showed that green algal micro-propagules were discovered in seawater and sediment during March to May. The average quantity of micro-propagules was 267 ind./L in surface seawater and 43 ind./g in sediment. The biomass of attached green macroalgae increased in Pyropia aquaculture from March to May. Three species, including Ulva prolifera, Ulva linza and Blidingia sp. were found in Pyropia aquaculture rafts. The dominant specie was Blidingia sp. and the second was U. prolifera in spring. This study indicated that the micro-propagules and macroalgae were existed in the coastal area of the Subei Shoal at the early stage of green tide. This was the key point to the governance of green tide in China.

The objective of this study was to investigate whether there was distinctive seasonal and zonal variation in the species diversity, biomass, and element accumulation capacities of macroalgae in two major intertidal mangrove stand types (Avicennia marina assemblage and Sonneratia apetala assemblage) in the Zhanjiang region of southern China. Over a year, 31 species in 15 genera were identified in both mangrove assemblages, of which the dominant species were Cladophoropsis zollingeri and Enteromorpha clathrat. Macroalgal species were significantly most abundant in spring (p<0.05), followed by summer, winter, and autumn. Variation in the zonal distribution of macroalgal species was conspicuous in both intertidal mangrove assemblages, with the greatest abundance in the middle zone, and the least in the front zone. Patterns in the seasonal and zonal variation in macroalgal biomass in the S. apetala assemblage were similar to those of macroalgal species diversity in both mangrove assemblages. The seasonal patterns in tissue concentrations of 15 analyzed elements were not uniform among the macroalgae C. zollingeri, E. clathrata, and Gracilaria salicornia in the A. marina assemblage. All three species exhibited variation in their responses to ambient concentrations of different elements, implying their differential ability to absorb and selectively accumulate certain elements.

The most important marine coastal ecosystem in the Chilean coast are kelp forests. This review is based on ecological studies regarding different aspects of subtidal kelp ecosystems along the Chilean coast. It highlights the most interesting findings in (1) biology of subtidal kelp in Chile, with particular reference to (2) habitats formed by kelp, and considered the successful examples and promising results in the (3) kelp as an industrial resource (Biotechnological approach of kelps and aquaculture). The impact caused by (4) El Niño-Southern Oscillation is discussed as an important climatic event that could help to forecast the future of the kelp ecosystem. In addition, this literature review outlines the knowledge gaps on subtidal kelp along the Southeast Pacific Coast of Chile, so that research can be strengthened in the future.