Range extensions of teredinids (shipworms) and polychaetes in the vicinity of a temperate-zone nuclear generating station

Abstract

A study of marine boring and fouling organisms in the vicinity of the thermal effluent from the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, USA has been conducted since 1971. Two subtropical species of shipworms have been found in significant numbers in the effluent. These are Teredo bartschi Clapp and Teredo furcifera von Martens. The shipworm Lyrodus sp. and the flatworm Taenioplana teredini Hyman, which is predatory on teredinids, were also found, but on only one occasion. The polychaete Ficopomatus enigmaticus (Fauvel) has been found for the first time on the Atlantic Coast of North America. Three other polychaetes, Potamilla (Potamethus) spathiferus (Ehlers), Loimia medusa (Savigny), and Sphaerosyllis sp., have been newly identified from Barnegat Bay, but probably are not recent range extensions. Only T. bartschi, T. furcifera, and F. enigmaticus have established breeding populations. Their distributions and abundances are probably related to the thermal effluent; this is most clear in the case of T. bartschi and least clear in the case of F. enigmaticus. T. bartschi was confined at first to the heated effluent in Oyster Creek, but has spread to Forked River. It has become a major faunal element in Oyster Creek. The impact of the other exotic species has been negligible. The primary mechanism of the range extensions is by boat transport.