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Service Notice

The Western Australian Herbarium’s collections management system, WAHerb, and DBCA’s flora taxonomic names application, WACensus, have been set to read-only mode since 1 October 2025. Recent taxonomic changes are not currently being reflected in Florabase, herbarium collections, or the census. The Herbarium team, working with the Biodiversity Information Office, now have the Nomos-hosted WACensus in production, and we will begin to update the flora and fungi for WA within the system soon. The Specify project team continues to test and streamline the new collections management system, and we expect this to be online in October. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

The notice period started at 9:45 am on Friday, 12 December 2025 +08:00 and will end at 12:00 pm on Thursday, 1 October 2026 +08:00.

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.