Grateloupia turuturu was first detected in Tasmania in 2006. It has since been found in Port Phillip Bay in Victoria and Botany Bay in New South Wales.
Dark red, yellowish-red, or purplish elongate blades up to 35 cm long that have a slippery surface and pliable texture. Blades can be undivided, several times irregularly divided, or have secondary blades arising from the margins of the primary blade. Blades can have ruffled margins and may arise singly or as multiple blades from a small encrusting base.
Found attached to hard substrates in inshore waters within semi-exposed rocky intertidal pools or at shallow depths in sheltered waters. Generally found at or close to the waterline on vessels.
Descriptions and images provided in Scott (2017, pp. 250-251), Bunker et al. (2017, p. 134), and Nelson (2020, pp. 300-301).
First identified from Bicheno in Tasmania in 2004 (Saunders & Withall, 2006), from Port Phillip Bay in 2010, then from Botany Bay in 2019. Now widely distributed on intertidal reefs down the Tasmanian east coast and on shallow reefs in northern Port Phillip Bay. Elsewhere, found mostly on artificial installations or boats in harbours or marinas.
Also introduced to the Mediterranean Sea (most likely with oyster imports), Atlantic coasts of Europe, eastern coast of North America, Pacific coast of Mexico, New Zealand (D’Archino et al., 2007), Brazil (Azevedo et al., 2015), and South Africa (Bolton et al., 2016). First collections in the Mediterranean, the north-east, and the north-west Atlantic were named Grateloupia doryphora (Cabioch et al., 1997), a South American species, but later molecular studies determined these to be Grateloupia turuturu (Gavio & Fredericq, 2002). Records of G. doryphora from outside South America most likely represent G. turuturu.
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