''Caulerpa webbiana'', commonly known as bottlebrush green seaweed, is a species of seaweed in the family ''

Caulerpaceae Caulerpaceae is a family of green algae in the order Bryopsidales Bryopsidales is an order of green algae, in the class Ulvophyceae. Characteristics The thallus is filamentous and much branched and may be packed into a mass. It is coenocytic ...

''. The seaweed has an olive green to bright green

thallus Thallus (plural: thalli), from Latinized Greek (), meaning "a green shoot" or "twig", is the vegetative tissue of some organisms in diverse groups such as algae, fungi, some liverworts, lichens, and the Myxogastria. Many of these organisms wer ...

that spreads outward to around forming dense clumps on coral rubble among seagrasses. The stems are about in length and have small bristles composed of many fine branched filaments, that are arranged in whorls around the stolon in the middle so that it resembles a stiff bottlebrush. The species was first formally described in 1837 by the botanist

Camille Montagne Jean Pierre François Camille Montagne (15 February 1784 – 5 December 1866) was a French military physician and botanist who specialized in the fields of bryology and mycology. He was born in the commune of Vaudoy in the department of Seine-et- ...

as part of the work ''Centurie de plantes cellulaires exotiques nouvelles'' as published in ''Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Botanique, Seconde série''. The only known synonym is ''Chauvinia webbiana'' as described by

Friedrich Traugott Kützing Friedrich Traugott Kützing (8 December 1807 in Kalbsrieth, Ritteburg – 9 September 1893) was a German pharmacist, botanist and phycologist. Despite his limited background in regard to higher education, Kützing made significant scientific con ...

in 1849. The type specimen was collected from around

Lanzarote Lanzarote (, , ) is a Spanish island, the easternmost of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. It is located approximately off the north coast of Africa and from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering , Lanzarote is the fourth-largest of the i ...

in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

. The species is found in warmer waters in sediment or in

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

s. It is found around the Canary Islands, islands in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

and Hawaii. It is also found is parts of Asia including

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. In

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, it is found along the coast in the Kimberley region extending south to the

Houtman Abrolhos The Houtman Abrolhos (often called the Abrolhos Islands) is a chain of 122 islands and associated coral reefs, in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia, about west of Geraldton, Western Australia. It is the southernmost true coral ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q48996866 webbiana Plants described in 1837 Algae of Australia Algae of Hawaii