Red alga (Cyanidioschyzon merolae)
Red algae, or Rhodophyta, make up one of the oldest and largest phyla of eukaryotic algae, containing over 7,000 recognized species within over 900 genera amidst ongoing taxonomic revisions. The majority of species (6,793) are in the class Florideophyceae, and mostly consist of multicellular marine algae, including many notable seaweeds. Red algae are abundant in marine habitats. Approximately 5% of red algae species occur in freshwater environments, with greater concentrations in warmer areas. This may be due to an evolutionary bottleneck in which the last common ancestor lost about 25% of its core genes and much of its evolutionary plasticity.
From Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Research Mentions
Red alga genes work the same wherever scientists insert them
The ancient red algae living in hot volcanic springs are distant cousins of the plants in your ga...