This is the principal species grown in earthen ponds for thefresh seafood market, specifically in Kalawisan, Mactan Island, andlately in a few areas around the Philippines. In Okinawa, the same spe-cies is grown using suspended net cages and harvested for the sushi mar-ket in Japan. A variety of this species was described from Bugsuk Island,Palawan by Trono and Ang (1982) as C. lentillifera var. compacta whichis distinguished by its dense and crowded ramuli which are decidedlymuch smaller than those found in the typical variety. A closely similar form is C. lentillifera var. condensata Yamada from Palau (Ohba et al. 2007).Many earlier Philippine reports of this species erroneously iden-tified it as Caulerpa racemosa with which it can be distinguished by size,shape and opacity of the ramuli.