Sponge invaders in Dutch coastal waters

Abstract

Continuous monitoring by scientists and volunteers of the Biological Working Group of the Dutch SubAqua Union and the ‘Anemoon’ Foundation over the past four years, yielded a surprising six new records of sponges for Dutch coastal waters. Oscarella lobularis, Celtodoryx girardae, Suberites virgultosus, Haliclona (Haliclona) simulans, Halisarca aff. dujardini, and a species identified as Leucosolenia somesii were unknown from Dutch coastal waters before 2000. The latter is a giant calcareous sponge, seemingly belonging to the common Leucosolenia variabilis, but here assumed to be an invader as well, as it has spicular characters well outside the variation found in the majority of Dutch L. variabilis specimens. It is likely a member of a ‘forgotten’ species, L. somesii. Habit photographs, SEM images of the spicules, and for O. lobularis and H. aff. dujardini, photographs of histological sections are provided to substantiate these new records. With the exception of C. girardae, most of the species resemble previously described widespread north-east Atlantic species, occurring in the area to the south and west of the Netherlands, so it is assumed pending future genetic research that at least several of the invaders comprise range extensions related to rising winter temperatures. Possibly, recent shellfish imports may be an additional causal agent. We also report the occurrence of unprecedented spicular deviations observed in three sponge species commonly occurring in Dutch waters, Halichondria (Halichondria) panicea, Hymeniacidon perlevis and Haliclona (Soestella) xena, which grew in small inland water bodies. Possibly, the limited space in these inland waters with possible stress factors for sponges such as reduced water exchange, and deviating chemistry, have caused the sponges to form stunted growth in spicules varying from rhabds with rounded endings to silica spheroids. We provide an updated list of sponges found in Dutch waters and a list of suspected or proven invaders of Dutch waters.

Diversity patterns and zoogeography of the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean shallow-water sponge fauna

“…Xavier, unpublished data); CAPCape Verde also including Mauritania (Van Soest, 1993a, b); wIBE-West coast of the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain) (Hanitsch, 1895;Lévi & Vacelet, 1958;Lopes & Boury-Esnault, 1981;Lopes, 1989;Naveiro, 2002;Pires, 2007;J. Xavier, unpublished data) also including the Gorringe Bank (Xavier & Van Soest, 2007); nIBE-North coast of Spain (Ferrer-Hernández, 1914, 1918, 1922Solórzano, 1991;Cristobo, 1997;Preciado, 2002); FRA-West coast of France (Descatoire, 1966(Descatoire, , 1969; CHLEnglish Channel (Burton, 1930(Burton, , 1957Borley, 1931;Lévi, 1950;Borojevic et al, 1968;Cabioch, 1968Cabioch, , 1973Cabioch & Glaçon, 1975;Ackers et al, 1992); IRI-Irish and Celtic Seas (Burton, 1963;Van Soest & Weinberg, 1980;Van Soest et al, 1983;Hiscock et al, 1984;Ackers et al, 1992;Bell & Barnes, 2000); SCO-North coast of Scotland and Ireland (Ackers et al, 1992;Picton & Goodwin, 2007); sNSE, wNSESouth and West coasts of the North Sea (Topsent, 1899;Ackers et al, 1992;Van Soest et al, 2007b;M. de Kluijver, unpublished data); sNOR, wNOR and nNOR-South, West and North coasts of Norway …”

“…8 Distribution range of the species in the a Northeast Atlantic (S = 480); b Mediterranean Sea (S = 539). sa single-area occurrence, nr narrow-range, wr wide-range, (A/M)E Atlantic or Mediterranean endemic, AM Atlanto-Mediterranean sponge fauna, and their current assemblages appear to be the result of chance dispersals and human-mediated introductions (see Van Soest et al, 2007b). The strong correlation between AvTD and SST values, although not necessarily implying causation, at least provides a plausible explanation for the influence of present and past climate on the regional sponge assemblages.…”

Première observation de l'éponge introduite et invasive Celtodoryx ciocalyptoides (Burton, 1935) (Porifera : Coelosphaeridae) dans le port du Havre (Manche)

“…1). Cette même espèce de spongiaire est décrite comme invasive dans l'Oosterschelde (Pays-Bas) par van Soest et al (2007), son origine restant inconnue. Le vecteur d'introduction invoqué est le naissain de l'huître Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg, 1793) importé pour l'ostréi-culture depuis la décennie 1990 à la fois dans le golfe du Morbihan et dans l'Oosterschelde.…”

“…Henkel & Janussen (2011) montrent que Celtodoryx girardae est un synonyme plus récent de Celtodoryx ciocalyptoides (Burton, 1935). En accord avec van Soest et al (2007), Henkel & Janussen pensent que l'espèce a probablement été introduite depuis son aire d'origine, le Pacifique nord-ouest (mer du Japon, mer Jaune) dans l'Atlantique small population in the port of Le Havre has been found in 2014 at the rocky shore of a tidal dock, between + 1 m and -4.8 m. The three European populations (Le Havre, South Brittany and Oosterschelde) and the Pacific population all developed in a paralic environment, defined as a transition zone between marine and continental systems. The introduction vector in Le Havre port is likely shipping and cannot be the importation of the spat of Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg, 1793) for farming, as suspected for the two previous European introductions of this species, given the lack of oyster farms in the vicinity.…”

Redescription and new records ofCeltodoryx ciocalyptoides(Demospongiae: Poecilosclerida)—a sponge invader in the north east Atlantic Ocean of Asian origin?

“…Records from the North East Atlantic: North Sea, Oesterschelde, Netherlands (van Soest et al, 2007) and Gulf The species occurs on rocky substrate, mussel shells and on soft-bottoms. The morphology of the specimens from the Pacific Ocean is more or less thinly encrusting with an area less than 20 cm 2 , whereas in the North East Atlantic Ocean massive representatives with a mean of 8-10 cm and a maximum thickness of 50 cm covering an area of 25 m 2 were observed (van Soest et al, 2007).…”