An Atlantic infaunal engineer is established in the Northeast Pacific: Clymenella torquata (Polychaeta: Maldanidae) on the British Columbia and Washington Coasts

Abstract

The Northwest Atlantic bamboo worm Clymenella torquata, believed to have been imported with commercial oyster culture, was last formally reported from the American Pacific coast more than 30 years ago from a single location. We report here that it is broadly distributed in British Columbia and is now established in Washington. In Samish Bay, Washington, this tubiculous infaunal worm creates a spongy, porous substrate that has proved detrimental to commercial oyster farms by causing the oysters to sink into the sediment and suffocate. Little is known about the ecological or economic impacts of this invasion in the Pacific Northwest.

Impacts of alien polychaete species in marine ecosystems: a systematic review

“…For example, experiments conducted in situ in the Mediterranean suggest that the sabellid Branchiomma boholense dominate the use of substrates over the mussel M. galloprovincialis . Also, aggregations of the North-west Atlantic bamboo maldanid Clymenella torquata, an intertidal tube-dwelling ecosystem engineer widely distributed in British Columbia (Canada) and established in Samish Bay (Washington), create a spongy porous substrate that has proved detrimental to local commercial oyster farms (who typically grow oysters on the bottom of mudflats), causing the oysters to sink into the sediment and suffocate (Mach et al, 2012).…”