First confirmed record of Branchiomma luctuosum (Annelida: Sabellidae) in marinas of southern Spain

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event First confirmed record of Branchiomma luctuosum (Annelida: Sabellidae) in marinas of southern Spain Alejandro Fernández Romero1*, Juan Moreira Da Rocha2 and Jose Manuel Guerra-García1 1 University of Seville, Spain 2 Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain Introductions and spread of Non-Indigenous species (NIS) are one of the greatest threats to marine biodiversity around the world. One of the most investigated NIS is the fan worm Branchiomma luctuosum (Grube, 1870). Its type locality is in the Red Sea and has been later reported as a NIS in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time by Bianchi (1983). Since this finding, a dynamic non-stop invasion process has been recorded along the whole Mediterranean basin, from Turkish to Spanish coasts. In fact, B. luctuosum has been recently included in the list of the 100 worst invasive alien marine species in the Mediterranean Sea due to 1) its high densities in artificial and natural habitats, 2) ability to growth in nutrient-enriched water, 3) strategies of anti-predation, 4) ability to simultaneous hermaphrodite reproduction and 5) high capacity to outcompete other filter feeding organisms. However, in spite of its ability to successfully colonize new environments, its presence has not been confirmed yet on the European Atlantics coasts. The present study is within the framework of a project whose main objective is the characterization of the macrofaunal community associated with artificial structures in marinas. A total of 8 marinas were sampled along the Bay of Cádiz between September and October 2018. B. luctuosum was present in six of them being associated to the vertical surface of floating pontoons, very close to the water surface and usually in small aggregates. Some specimens have been detected associated to the fouling of ships hull; therefore, such finding involves the first evidence of its occurring in these biotopes. Anyway, all of them have been located on a few recreational ships with an obvious lack of maintenance. Thus, larval transport within water ballast generated by shipping traffic is probably the main introduction vector in the Atlantic Ocean coasts. To explore its invasion dynamics in these new colonized habitats, a monitoring program has been initiated aiming to 1) determining the presence and population densities of B. luctuosum both in marinas and natural habitats in the Atlantic coast of southern Spain and Portugal, 2) quantifying the biomass (wet weight) of B. luctuosum populations in comparison to other sessile species of the fouling on floating pontoons, and 3) describing the epibiont major taxa on tubes and aggregates of B. luctuosum. The present study represents the first documented record of B. luctuosum for the Atlantic marinas of the Iberian Peninsula. We also warn about its successful spread and establishment in these new environments along the east Atlantic Ocean. More studies are needed to understand the consequences of this invasion on the biodiversity of the Atlantic communities. Keywords: Branchiomma luctuosum, Marine invasions, Marinas, Southern Spain, Bay of Cádiz, Fouling community, Polychaeta Conference: XX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies (SIEBM XX) , Braga, Portugal, 9 Sep - 12 Sep, 2019. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Global Change, Invasive Species and Conservation Citation: Fernández Romero A, Moreira Da Rocha J and Guerra-García J (2019). First confirmed record of Branchiomma luctuosum (Annelida: Sabellidae) in marinas of southern Spain. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies (SIEBM XX) . doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.08.00064 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 24 Apr 2019; Published Online: 27 Sep 2019. * Correspondence: Mr. Alejandro Fernández Romero, University of Seville, Seville, Spain, afernandez66@us.es Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Alejandro Fernández Romero Juan Moreira Da Rocha Jose Manuel Guerra-García Google Alejandro Fernández Romero Juan Moreira Da Rocha Jose Manuel Guerra-García Google Scholar Alejandro Fernández Romero Juan Moreira Da Rocha Jose Manuel Guerra-García PubMed Alejandro Fernández Romero Juan Moreira Da Rocha Jose Manuel Guerra-García Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.