Economic Importance
Because of their calcified structure, coralline algae have a number of economic uses. The collection of unattached corallines (maërl) for use as soil conditioners dates to the 18th century. This is particularly significant in Britain and France, where more than 300,000 tonnes of Phymatolithon calcareum (Pallas) Adey & McKinnin and Lithothamnion corallioides are dredged annually. Some harvesting of maërl beds that span several thousand kilometres off the coast of Brazil takes place. These beds contain as-yet undetermined species belonging to the genera Lithothamnion and Lithophyllum. Maërl is also used as a food additive for cattle and pigs, as well as in the filtration of acidic drinking water.
The earliest use of corallines in medicine involved the preparation of a vermifuge from ground geniculate corallines of the genera Corallina and Jania. This use stopped towards the end of the 18th century. Medical science now uses corallines in the preparation of dental bone implants. The cell fusions provide the matrix for the regeneration of bone tissue.
Since coralline algae contain calcium carbonate, they fossilize fairly well. They are particularly significant as stratigraphic markers in petroleum geology. Coralline rock also functions as building stones, with the best examples being in Vienna, Austria.
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