Note
Venezuela and the nearby islands have natural resources of three agarophyte species in the Gelidiales: Gelidiumserrulatum, Gelidiumfloridanum and Pterocladiacapillacea. Standingcropbiomass for two of these species, G.serrulatum and P.capillacea, varies between 1.4–0.5 and kg dry wt/m2. The agaryield from G.serrulatum and G.floridanum ranges from 12 to 34%, depending on the method of extraction. Agar extraction of both species directly into 0.25 N NaOH provided significantly higher gel strengths (>1100 g/cm2) than either extraction in water or using an alkali pretreatment process of 1.0 N NaOH.