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Caulerpa webbiana Mont.

Reference
Ann.Sci.Nat., Bot. ser. 2, 8:354 (1837)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current
Image

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus bright green, spreading laterally to 12 cm, very low-growing and forming dense clumps, with slender stolons c. 0.5 mm diam. and a dense covering of sand-binding rhizoids. Rachis terete, to 2.5 cm tall, 200–250 μm diam., covered by whorls of (2–) 4 (–5) times dichotomously branched ramuli 450–600 μm long and closely set; apices of ramuli sharply pointed and occluded.

Distribution. Widespread in tropical and warmer seas. The southern limit of C. webbiana in W.A. is at the Houtman Abrolhos Islands.

Habitat. Usually anchored in sediment or growing on coral reefs.

[After Belton, Huisman & Gurgel, Algae of Australia: Mar. Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 1. Green and Brown Algae 100 (2015)]

John Huisman and Cheryl Parker, 3 August 2021

Distribution

IBRA Regions
Geraldton Sandplains, Indian Tropical Islands.
IBRA Subregions
Geraldton Hills.
IMCRA Regions
Abrolhos Islands, Kimberley, Oceanic Shoals, Pilbara (nearshore).
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Greater Geraldton, Karratha, Wyndham-East Kimberley.