Caulerpa taxifolia is a marine, green alga, a certain strain of which is invading sectors of the western coasts of the Mediterranean Sea where it grows much more robustly than it does in its native range. In the Mediterranean it has spread into thousands of hectares where it fills the water column with hundreds of tons of plant biomass per hectare. It is protected from sea urchins, fish and other herbivores by its toxicity. Caulerpa taxifolia is native to the Caribbean and other tropical seas where it grows in small patches and does not present problems. However, it was reported in 2000 that the Mediterranean Sea strain of the alga was discovered in California waters, where it is not native, and where it may spread as it has in the Mediterranean.

Branches, feather-like, flattened, and upright, 3 - 10 cm high, rising from a creeping stolon (runner), 1 - 2 mm in diameter, anchored by rhizoids to the substrate. Branchlets oppositely attached to midrib, flattened, slightly curved upwards, tapered at both base and tip, and constricted at point of attachment. Midrib is slightly flattened, appearing oval in cross-section. Dark green to light green.

Original publication: Agardh, C.A. (1817). Synopsis algarum Scandinaviae, adjecta dispositione universali algarum. pp. [i]-xl, [1]-135. Lundae [Lund]: ex officina Berlingiana.

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Origin: the marine alga, Caulerpa taxifolia, is native to the tropical oceans and seas of the world, including Australia, Brazil, Ceylon, Indonesia, Philippines, Tanzania and Vietnam.

Australia, California, Mediterranean, Eastern Atlantic (Africa, Canaries), Western Atlantic, Indo-Pacific, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico.

Reproduces by fragmentation; sexual reproduction remains unknown, because only male gametes are formed. It also reproduces vegetatively via fragmentation. During summer (June to September) the thallus of the aquarium strain attains extreme growth rates of up to 32mm of new stolon per day and a new frond every other day (month of August), resulting in frond densities of approximately 5000 fronds/m2

Direct use as food - consumed whole

Caulerpenyne from Caulerpa taxifolia which is cytotoxic towards several human cell lines and as such has anticancer, antitumour and antiproliferative properties(Fischel et al., 1995; Parent-Massin et al., 1996; Barbier et al., 2001)

Aires, T., Marba, N., Serrao, E.A., Duarte, C.M. & Arnaud-Haond, S. (2012). Selective elimination of chloroplastidial DNA for metagenomics of bacteria associated with the green alga Caulerpa taxifolia (Bryopsidophyceae). Journal of Phycology 48(2): 483-490.

Barbier, P., Guise, S., Huitorel, P., Amade, P., Pesando, D., Briand, C., Peyrot, V. (2001). Caulerpenyne from Caulerpa taxifolia has an antiproliferative activity on tumor cell line SK-N-SH and modifies the microtubule network.. Life Sci. 70: 415-429.

Bellan-Santini, D., Arnaud, P.M., Bellan, G. & Verlaque, M. (1996). The influence of the introduced tropical alga Caulerpa taxifolia, on the biodiversity of the Mediterranean marine biota. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 76: 235-237, 1 table.

Boudouresque, C.-F., Bellan-Santini, D., Belsher, T., Duclerc, J., Durand-Clement, M., Francour, P., Harmelin-Vivien, M., Henocque, Y., Meinesz, A., Pesando, D., Pietra, F. & Verlaque, M. (1992). The introduction of the green alga Caulerpa taxifolia into the Mediterranean: the repercussions for the indigenous communities. Mésogée 52: 88-89.

Boudouresque, C.-F., Meinesz, A., Ribera, M.A. & Ballesteros, E. (1995). Spread of the green alga Caulerpa taxifolia (Caulerpales, Chlorophyta) in the Mediterranean: possible consequences of a major ecological event. Sci. Mar. 59(Suppl. 1): 21-29, 1 fig.

In English: Killer Algae (also: Caulerpa, aquarium caulerpa);

Phillipines: Lukay-lukay

Basionym: Fucus taxifolius M.Vahl

Type locality: St. Croix, Virgin Islands (Silva, Basson & Moe 1996: 846).