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Caulerpa chemnitzia (Esper) J.V.Lamour.

Reference
Nouv.Bull.Sci.Soc.Philom.Paris 1:332, Pl. 6, Fig. 2 (1809)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus grass-green to dark green, spreading laterally to 50 cm, with naked stolons 1–2 mm diam., attached by short pillars with clustered rhizoids. Assimilators mostly simple, rarely branched, to 6 cm tall and 10 mm wide, with sparse to crowded radially arranged ramuli. Ramuli trumpet-shaped, peltate or clavate, with more than one form often present in the same assimilator, to 6 mm long, lacking constrictions, gradually broadening or with a short stalk and a flat disc (2.0–2.5 mm wide) when the ramuli are mostly peltate.

Distribution. Widespread in tropical seas. In W.A. south to the Houtman Abrolhos Islands.

Habitat. Epilithic in the intertidal and shallow subtidal.

[After Belton, Huisman & Gurgel, Algae of Australia: Mar. Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 1. Green and Brown Algae 81 (2015)]

John Huisman and Cheryl Parker, 3 August 2021

Distribution

IBRA Regions
Carnarvon, Dampierland, Northern Kimberley, Pilbara.
IBRA Subregions
Cape Range, Mitchell, Pindanland, Roebourne.
IMCRA Regions
Abrolhos Islands, Bonaparte Gulf, Canning, Central West Coast, Kimberley, Ningaloo, Pilbara (nearshore), Pilbara (offshore), Zuytdorp.
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Ashburton, Broome, Derby-West Kimberley, Exmouth, Greater Geraldton, Irwin, Karratha, Port Hedland, Shark Bay, Wyndham-East Kimberley.