Taxonomic diversity and geographic distributions of aquarium-traded species of Caulerpa (Chlorophyta: Caulerpaceae) in southern California, USA

Abstract

We identified 14 taxa (10 species) of Caulerpa from retail aquarium outlets in southern California, USA, suggesting that the aquarium industry has the potential to be an important vector for transporting these non-native seaweeds into distant geographic regions. Seaweeds were sold in 58 % and species of Caulerpa in 52 % of the 50 stores visited between November 2000 and August 2001. C. serrulata var. hummii (18%), C. taxifolia (14%), C. racemosa (14%), and C. racemose var. lamourouxii (14%) were the most commonly encountered taxa. The 14 aquarium-traded Caulerpa taxa were distributed from tropical to temperate waters. Only 3 (C. ashmeadii, C. serrulata var. hummii and C. microphysa) were confined to the tropics, whereas 12 had distributions extending into temperate seas. These temperate components to their distributions indicate that, if introduced, several other taxa of aquarium-traded Caulerpa besides C. taxifolia might be capable of establishing populations in southern Californian or other temperate waters. © Inter-Research 2006.