Marine invasions on a subtropical island: fouling studies and new records in a recent marina on Madeira Island (Eastern Atlantic Ocean)

Abstract

The R/V Oceanus completed a 9,789 km, 28 day passage from Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in the Atlantic Ocean, through the Panama Canal to Yaquina Bay, Oregon, in the Pacific Ocean on 21 February 2012. The Oceanus had previously operated in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean (including the Caribbean Sea). We document the sequential acquisition of the barnacles Balanus trigonus and Amphibalanus venustus and the oyster Ostrea equestris on the Oceanus on its high and low latitude transoceanic, intra-oceanic, and interoceanic travels before she was surveyed in Yaquina Bay. The close correspondence between hull fouling accumulations and the detailed two year Oceanus working history reveals B. trigonus settlement occurred in every tropical port visited by the Oceanus, that some populations survived through two of three Woods Hole winters, and that some of these populations passed through the freshwater Panama Canal. These results suggest that marine hull-fouling species are continuously transported globally between most ports of call by most ship passages.

The non-indigenous Paranthura japonica Richardson, 1909 in the Mediterranean Sea: travelling with shellfish?

“…As a matter of fact, isopods and other groups of mobile fauna are generally disregarded in surveys of hard bottoms, which in many cases focus on sessile macroinvertebrates or macroalgae (e.g. Piola & Johnston, 2008;Canning-Clode et al, 2013). Anthurids, in particular, are poorly known in the Mediterranean, for several reasons: (i) they are usually not very abundant in benthic communities, and therefore they might simply not be present in many samples; (ii) Even when present, they may have gone unnoticed by scientists who were not particularly attentive to this group; (iii) A comprehensive guide to the identification of isopods in the Mediterranean is completely missing and the published texts to support identification of Mediterranean isopods in general, and anthurids in particular, are scattered among many (old) publications that are not easily accessible.…”

Diversity of Bugulidae (Bryozoa, Cheilostomata) colonizing artificial substrates in the Madeira Archipelago (NE Atlantic Ocean)

“…In 2006 we initiated a NIS monitoring program in a local marina located along the South-eastern coast of Madeira Island [17,54]. We later expanded this study by adding a second marina in 2010, and two additional marinas in 2013 [16,18].…”

“…Since then, a few species were added to this list, with most of the new records detected in the twentieth century [33][34][35][36]. In recent years, new records of bryozoans have been reported for Madeira Island [15,17,19,37]. Nevertheless, Berning [38] indicates that the known bryozoan species list for the Madeira archipelago is likely far from reflecting the true species richness for this group when compared to other coastlines.…”

“…To date, eight Bugulidae species have been detected in the Madeira archipelago: Bugula neritina [29], Bugulina stolonifera [17], Bugulina calathus minor [36,51], Bugulina ditrupae [24], Bugulina avicularia [29,45], Crisularia gracilis [24], Crisularia plumosa [29,52], and Virididentula dentata [17,29].…”

“…The diversity and distribution of fouling NIS in Madeira Island, North-eastern Atlantic Ocean, has received some attention in recent years due to on-going monitoring surveys, particularly in marinas on the southern coast of Madeira Island. As a result, several new species have been detected and inventoried [15][16][17][18], including new undescribed bryozoan species [19].…”