Caulerpa Racemosa
Caulerpa Racemosa is a green alga from the Caulerpaceae family. It is native to the Red Sea, but it is an allochthonous species of the Mediterranean Sea, where it has penetrated through the Suez Canal and where it has easily adapted. In the Mediterranean Sea, together with Caulerpa Taxifolia, it is threatening the Posidonia Oceanica meadows of which it is a strong competitor. A plant of Caulerpa racemosa consists of a number of branches linked to stolons which are anchored to the sandy substrate by rhizoids. The branches are a few centimetres apart and can grow to a height of 30 centimetres. Many spherical or ovate side-shoots branch off these and give the seaweed its name of sea grapes.
We found it in a stretch of cliff on the Livorno coast: since Livorno is an important port of the Mediterranean it is easy to imagine that it arrived there through the ballast waters of ships.
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