Ulva compressa Linnaeus

3.3 Ulva compressa Linnaeus

The species was collected in the marine sites of Torre Faro (ST10 and ST11); in the Lagoon of Venice, Ulva compressa Linnaeus ( Figure 5 View Figure 5 ) was collected in Ottagono S. Pietro in Volta, Pellestrina, Lido and Porto S. Leonardo. Due to the high intraclade divergence, it is possible that this group represents a species complex ( Melton and Lopez-Bautista 2021).

U. compressa is a very common marine green macroalga, distributed on the coasts of Asia, Europe, and America ( Guiry and Guiry 2023), with a high intraspecific morphological plasticity, from the narrow, blade-like morphotype, to the foliose free-floating thallus ( Liu and Melton 2021). The species could grow rapidly in eutrophic environments, accumulating massive biomass and causing notorious green tides ( Blomster et al. 2002).