Abstract
Colonial ascidians are common occupants of hard surfaces in coastal marinas as fouling organisms on pier pilings and ship hulls and have significant financial impact. Methods to inhibit fouling often are time consuming and labor intensive, thus treatments that prevent settlement for long time periods are warranted. Trybutyltin (TBT) appeared to be an effective antifouling agent, but is highly toxic to non-target species and now globally prohibited. Medetomidine is the active ingredient in the anti-fouling paint, Selektope, that shows promise to prevent attachment of marine fouling species. Here, we assessed the potential of medetomidine on larval metamorphosis of the invasive ascidian Botrylloides violaceus in static bioassays. We exposed newly released tadpole larvae to eight concentrations (0.5 mg/L, 1 mg/L, 5 mg/L, 10 mg/L, 20 mg/L, 40 mg/L, 50 mg/L) of medetomidine and recorded the number of larvae that were mobile, attached, metamorphosed or deceased after 1 h, 2 h, 4 h, 6 h, 24 h and 48 h. Larvae exposed to the highest concentrations of medetomidine quickly attached to the surface of Petri dishes, but failed to metamorphose. Larvae were mobile over the first 2 to 4 h of the experiment in the filtered sea water controls and low medetomidine concentrations. Larvae metamorphosed in all treatments except the two highest concentrations of medetomidine (40 and 50 mg/L), but ultimately all larvae exposed to medetomidine died. Medetomidine appears to have potential as a mechanism to control populations of B. violaceus, but we caution that further testing of non-target species is warranted.
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More From: Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
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