On the identity and origin of the Mediterranean invasive
Caulerpa racemosa(Caulerpales, Chlorophyta) Verlaque, M.,
Durand, C., Huisman, J.M., Boudouresque, C-F and Le Parco, Y.
(2003) On the identity and origin of the Mediterranean invasive
Caulerpa racemosa(Caulerpales, Chlorophyta). European Journal of
Phycology, 38 (4). pp. 325-339. *Subscription may be required
Recent morphological and genetic studies on the Caulerpa
racemosa (Forsskål) J. Agardh complex have demonstrated that
three taxa occur in the Mediterranean Sea. One of them, the
'invasive variety', provisionally regarded as close to C.
racemosa var. occidentalis J. Agardh, is currently spreading
spectacularly throughout the Mediterranean. On the basis of new
morphological and molecular studies (rDNA ITS1, 5.8S and ITS2
sequences), we confirm here that this invasion is the result of
a recent introduction and we identify the invasive variety as
Caulerpa cylindracea Sonder, endemic to south-west Australia,
and currently known as C. racemosa var. laete