New Delhi, Aug 19: A new species of algae (very simple plants that grow mainly in water) with an umbrella head has been discovered in Andaman and Nicobar Islands by a group of botanist from Central University of Punjab, Bathinda
(CUPB).They are small and resemble an umbrella or a mushroom in bright green colour with a size of 20 to 40 mm.
They have grooves on its cap measuring 15 to 20 mm in diameter. It is named as Acetabularia jalakanyakae (jalakanyaka is a Sanskrit word which literally means goddess of oceans or mermaid). The alga was first spotted in 2019
and after various studies and analysis with other species it was confirmed as a new species. It is made up of a single,
big cell and a nucleus which is highly advantageous for molecular biological studies.
An important characteristic of Acetabularia genus is that they are regenerative (able to regrow a part again even if it is cut off) in nature. This discovery is significant because the last new algae species found in Andaman and Nicobar Islands was in 1984.
