New record of the non-indigenous copepod Pseudodiaptomus marinus Sato, 1913 (Calanoida, Pseudodiaptomidae) from the Guadalquivir Estuary (Gulf of Cádiz, SW Spain)

Abstract

Abstract This paper reports the first ocurrence of the Indo-Pacific copepod Pseudodiaptomus marinus in the Guadalquivir Estuary (Gulf of Cádiz, SW Spain), and provides some data on its morphology. The record is based on hundreds of specimens (which include males, females, and ovigerous females) captured in October 2016 at the mouth of the river, a marine protected area under the Fishing Reserve regulation. This reports confirms the presence of a stable population of P. marinus in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, a locality intermediate between the previously recorded distribution areas of northern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, and thus allows an expansion of the hitherto known geographical distribution and supports, once again, the role that maritime transport plays as a vector in the colonization of new habitats by exotic species.