Asparagopsis armata apparently
is endemic to the southern hemisphere (Southern and
Western Australia [Womersley 1996], New Zealand
and the Chatham Islands [Bonin and Hawkes 1987],
and perhaps Chile [Santelices 1988]). It was introduced
into the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean
Sea in the 1920s (Feldmann and Feldmann 1942), presumably
from southern Australia where it was and is
abundant (Sauvageau 1925, Womersley 1996). Tetrasporophytes
and gametophytes were discovered almost
simultaneously at four European sites, interpreted at
the time as four separate introductions (Westbrook
1930, Svedelius 1933). Some evidence supporting this
hypothesis was obtained in preliminary ecophysiological
studies (Guiry and Dawes 1992).