A survey of the benthic marine algae of southwestern New Brunswick, Canada

Southwestern New Brunswick, including the Passamaquoddy Bay area, is located in one of the richest marine environments in North America. A concentrated algal survey of this area comprising 50 littoral and sublittoral sites was undertaken in July 1986. Habitats investigated included estuaries, saltmarshes, saline lakes, sheltered and wave-exposed rocky shores, sublittoral bedrock, sediment and animal substrata. A species-poor flora was recorded, comprising 171 algae (45 Chlorophyceae, 58 Phaeophyceae and 68 Rhodophyceae) out of 352 species known for eastern Canada. Five species new to eastern Canada were detected: (Callocolax negleclus, Hilden brandia crouanii, Phyllophora crispa, Sphacelaria caespitula and Chaetomorpha capillaris). The Halicystis ovalis gametophyte phase of Derbesia marina was also recorded for the first time. The paucity of algal species in the Passamaquoddy region was probably due to regional conditions (low sea temperatures: 8°C offshore, 11°C inshore) and / or local conditions (littoral blanketing by Ascophyllum nodosum, sub littoral grazing by Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis).