and globose to elliptic, but become more regularly spherical as they mature. they have no colour, and will wait to release zoospores until conditions are optimal. these zoospores may be differently structured than their sporangial counterparts, but they have yet to be observed. practical importance maullinia has hosts of high commercial importance, such as macrocystis, and as such have the potential of causing devastating effects if an infection were able to spread into a gametophyte mariculture supporting a macrocystis kelp farm. examples have been seen already, with the initial description of maullinia occurring on an infected chilean ectocarpus mariculture. these kinds of infections could compound with the delivery of brown algal viruses alongside the parasite, decimating entire kelp cultures in the process. in addition to its known effects on brown algal hosts, maullinia has the ability to infect a wide range of hosts that could possibly bridge the marine-terrestrial gap. phytomyxid parasites have been proven capable of shifting hosts across kingdoms (i.e., from brown algae to angiosperms), and could this introduce completely novel parasites to terrestrial environments. species maullinia ectocarpii i. maier, e. r. parodi, r. westermeier et d. g. müller 2000 maullinia braseltonii p. murúa, f. goecke et s. neuhauser 2017