In order to assess the influence of light and salinity on the germination and growth of spores, PO4–P and NH4–N were kept constant in all treatments (6.4 μmol l−1 and 32 μmol l− 1, respectively), while three levels of light intensities (20, 40 and 90 μE m−2 s−1) were crossed with three levels of salinity (5, 20 and 35 psu).