An Unusual Protuberant Lithophyllum sp. From Southern Spain Increases Structural Complexity in Urchin Barrens Ramos Estenzo, Dino Angelo Río Sánchez, Jesús Del Peñas De Giles, Julio Braga Alarcón, Juan Carlos Blanquizales Barcoding Crustose coralline algae Sequences generated by this study are available from GenBank (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/), and images are available from the University of Granada Herbarium where samples were registered. Urchin barrens (‘blanquizales’) are habitats dominated by encrusting non-geniculate coralline algae and maintained by urchin grazing. Taxonomic information of coralline communities in Mediterranean blanquizales is limited. Lumpy to fruticose coralline algal specimens, unusual in blanquizales, were found along the southern Spanish coast. Sequences from these specimens resolved with foliose samples morpho-anatomically identified as Lithophyllum dentatum. Initial observations suggested that this protuberant Lithophyllum species increases diversity in the otherwise species-poor exposed blanquizales. When present, higher macroalgal cover was observed with algae and microfauna frequently observed as epibiotic among the coralline's protuberances. 2025-06-05T08:30:12Z 2025-06-05T08:30:12Z 2025-02-14 journal article Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 2025; 35:e70090 [https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.70090] https://hdl.handle.net/10481/104474 10.1002/aqc.70090 eng info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/813360 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Wiley