Pic I. Algal Ball, better descibed as a “Rhodolith” on hard bottom/loose, coarse sand just inside “The Platform” at Bath, Mar 28, 2024. View iNat Record
Early on in my studies of seagrass beds at Bath on the east, windward coast of Barbados in the years 1967-1970, I encountered and was fascinated by what I called “Algal Balls”: golf-ball- to cricket ball- and softball-sized spherical structures with a bumpy surface.
They were pink to reddish color, which I recognized as coralline algae; when I broke them apart on shore using a hammer and chisel, there was always a core of a coral fragment with the coralline algae in layers around it.
Clusters of these algal balls occurred in depressions on hard surface (formed largely by coralline algae) seaward of the seagrass beds in an area subject to constant heavy wave action. I speculated that the spherical shape was due to regular disturbance and movement of the algal balls by the wave action.
I am glad to say that though much else has been lost at Bath, most notably the once flourishing seagrass beds, I still observed these Algal Balls in my recent ventures to Bath (2024 and 2025). Read more