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Caulerpa brachypus Harv.

Reference
Proc.Amer.Acad.Arts 4:333 (1860)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus grass-green to olive-green, spreading laterally to 40–50 cm, with smooth terete stolons 2–3 mm diam., attached to the substratum by pillars bearing dense rhizoidal clusters. Assimilators with short basal terete stalks to 7 mm long, then flattened, simple or branched, ligulate, to 9 cm tall and 5–18 mm wide, generally of uniform width or tapering slightly, rarely sinuous or with constrictions. Ramuli absent, assimilators usually with minute widely spaced spines at the margins and an apical notch.

Distribution. Widely distributed in the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans as well as the Caribbean Sea. In W.A. it occurs south to Ningaloo Reef.

Habitat. Epilithic in sandy areas of the lower intertidal and subtidal.

[After Belton, Huisman & Gurgel, Algae of Australia: Mar. Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 1. Green and Brown Algae 80 (2015)]

John Huisman and Cheryl Parker, 3 August 2021

Distribution

IBRA Regions
Carnarvon, Indian Tropical Islands.
IBRA Subregions
Cape Range.
IMCRA Regions
Ningaloo, Pilbara (nearshore), Pilbara (offshore).
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Ashburton, Cocos Islands, Exmouth, Karratha, Port Hedland.