Here we report the first finding of Cryptonemia rotunda and Schizymenia apoda in Korea based on plastid rbcL sequence analysis and morphological observations. C. rotunda occurred in the subtidal in Hongdo and Namyeodo on the south coast. Thalli have short stipe with foliose, membranous blades with dentate margin, a length of 2-8 cm. S. apoda occurred in many locations along the coast of Korea. Thalli are foliose, simple or broadly lanceolate blades with irregular lobes and proliferations from the margins, sometimes undulate, soft fleshy, and slippery, up to 32 cm tall, and have cystocarps with ostioles on the blade. Plastid rbcL sequences reveal that each of these species is clearly separated from other species of their respective genera. S. apoda was well resolved within the genus. However, C. rotunda was distantly related to other members of the genus, and this result needs an urgent revision of the genus.

Cryopreservation of sporothalli of the red alga Porphyra (P. seriata, P. yezoensis, P. tenera, P. pseudolinearis and P. dentata) was performed by the two-step cooling method in liquid nitrogen. The algal samples were suspended in various cryoprotective solutions, and slowly cooled to -40°C in 4 hours using a programmed freezer. After the first slow cooling the suspensions with cryoprotectants were immediately immersed in liquid nitrogen. The suspension from the programmed freezer was thawed quickly by agitation of the vial in a water bath at 40°C. When ice in the suspension of cryogenic vial was mostly melted, the vial was transferred to an ice bath for complete melting of the residual ice. The cryoprotectants in the vial were washed off by gradual dilution with seawater. The viability of the cell was assessed with neutral red staining. The viability of Porphyra samples ranged 54.6-70.9% when the mixed suspension of 10% dimethylsulfoxide and 0.5 M sorbitol in 50% seawater used as a cryoprotectant.

No abstract

No abstract