Bangiophyceae

a class of red algae. It includes 24 genera, uniting 90 species of single-cell and multicell threadlike or lamellar algae, whose mononuclear cells, in distinction to other red algaes, have usually one stellate chromatophore with a pyrenoid and do not join pores. Single-cell bangio-phyceae reproduce by binary fission, and multicell ones usually reproduce asexually by means of monospores. Sexual reproduction is observed in only a few bangiophyceae. In some vegetative cells a large number of male sexual cells, or spermatia, are formed; other cells develop into female sexual cells, or carpogonia. The zygote which forms as a result of fertilization divides (sometimes by reduction) into so-called carpospores (from four to 64). The organs of sexual and asexual reproduction in bangiophyceae develop on the same plants at a varying temperature of the surrounding environment. The monospores yield thalluses. The carpospores sprout into microscopic threads, and only the spores formed in them yield thalluses. Bangiophyceae are found everywhere in soil, in fresh water, and in the seas. The most important representative of Bangiophyceae is red laver.