Fucoxanthin is the predominant pigment. Growth is intercalary or apical, and plants are usually perennial. Order and Family Order Scytosiphonales, family Scytosiphonaceae can be erect and bladelike or globular. They frequently have hairs. Genus Thalli are globular with broad basal attachments, that are at first solid and then become hollow.
Walls are several to many cells thick.
C. peregrina is found in the lower intertidal on rocks and other algae from Alaska to La Jolla, California. It is also common in the northern Atlantic ocean. C. tuberculata is found on rocks from San Pedro California to La Paz, Baja California, Mexico and Ecuador.