ANATOMICAL STUDIES ON DICTYOPTERIS POLYPODIOIDES (PHAEOPHYCOTA) FROM THE COAST OF KARACHI, PAKISTAN

Dictyopteris polypodioides (Dc.) Lamouroux, a thin and flexuous brown alga, was collected from the Arabian Sea coast at Karachi during March 2008 and investigated for its morphology, anatomy and reproductive structures in detail. In the present study the characters such as number of layers, shape of the cells, presence and absence of intercellular spaces between layers of thallus are described. This is the first detailed study of this species from the coast of Pakistan.