Editorial |
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Geoff Boxshall
Alien Species in European Coastal Waters (pp 279-280)
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Research articles |
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Bella S. Galil
Seeing Red: Alien species along the Mediterranean coast of Israel (pp 281-312)
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An overview is presented of the metazoan alien biota recorded
from the Mediterranean coast of Israel. Of the 296 alien
species, 284 have been introduced from the Red Sea/Indo
West-Pacific through the Suez Canal. A brief history of the
research on introduced species along the Israeli coast is
presented along with the list of species, and their ecological
and economic impacts are discussed.
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Stephan Gollasch and Erkki Leppäkoski
Risk assessment and management scenarios for ballast
water mediated species introductions into the Baltic Sea
(pp 313-340)
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This risk assessment study follows the environmental match of
donor and recipient regions of ballast water and the voyage
duration as risk quantifiers. The ports considered were
Gothenburg (Sweden), Copenhagen (Denmark), Kiel (Germany),
Klaipeda (Lithuania), Kemi, Tornio and Raahe as one port region
(Finland), and Sköldvik/Kilpilahti (Finland). All selected
Baltic ports have at least one donor port in the highest risk
category, all extreme and high risk donor ports are located in
Europe, but mostly outside the Baltic Sea. The most frequently
reported high-risk donor ports are Rotterdam (6 times),
Bremerhaven (5), Amsterdam (4) and Antwerp (3), and most
high-risk donor ports are the major hub ports in Europe. The
paper concludes with ballast water management scenarios for
intra-Baltic shipping and for vessels engaged on voyages outside
the Baltic.
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Dan Minchin
A checklist of alien and cryptogenic aquatic species in
Ireland (pp 341-366)
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One-hundred-and-twelve alien species are recorded for marine,
brackish and freshwater environments in Ireland, of these
sixty-eight are thought to be established. Their arrival has
been mainly due to shipping, aquaculture and the ornamental
industries. There are almost thirty species considered to be
invasive and some that have arrived recently may have
significant future impact. The majority of recorded alien
species will have arrived since 1950. Usually these species
appear in Britain or Northern Europe before occurring in
Ireland. The majority of the marine species will have originated
from the North Pacific Ocean whilst most of the freshwater
species will have originally been sourced from North America.
The sixty-four cryptogenic species arise out of the uncertainty
of their origin or as to how they will have arrived. Ireland
being a recently deglaciated island and separated from the
continental land mass will have acquired the majority of its
biota since the last glacial retreat making distinction between
native and alien species more difficult.
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Daniel B. Harries, Elizabeth Cook,
David W. Donnan, James M. Mair, Simon Harrow and John R.
Wilson
The establishment of the invasive alga Sargassum
muticum on the west coast of Scotland: Rapid northwards
spread and identification of potential new areas for
colonisation (pp 367-377)
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The invasive alga Sargassum muticum has recently been
reported in the Firth of Lorn, west coast of Scotland. This
represents the first sighting of the species north of the
Kintyre Peninsula, a land barrier that had been expected to slow
the northwards spread of S. muticum. This paper presents
a thorough review of literature concerning the dispersal and
establishment of this invasive alga and predicts potential
dispersal trajectories and likely areas for future establishment
in Scotland. From previous dispersal rates, S. muticum is
likely to spread throughout the west coast of Scotland in the
next few years, predominantly via natural pathways although
anthropogenic vectors may also contribute to dispersal.
Sheltered and moderately exposed sea lochs and shorelines, on
the west coast of Scotland in particular, are likely to provide
favourable conditions for the establishment of persistent
populations of S. muticum. Conditions on the north and
east coasts of Scotland were considered less favourable, both
for the dispersal and establishment of S. muticum. The
spread of S. muticum is unlikely to cause serious
widespread ecological impacts, however, it does have the
potential to cause economic damage to the aquaculture industry
which is a major employer on the west coast of Scotland. The
establishment of dense highly visible canopies would also
constitute a degradation of the natural heritage value of
Scottish shorelines. It would be prudent to investigate means of
preventing persistent populations from establishing in areas of
economic importance or with high natural heritage value.
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Martin H. Davis, Jørgen Lützen and Mary
E. Davis
The spread of Styela clava Herdman, 1882 (Tunicata,
Ascidiacea) in European waters
(pp 378-390)
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The immigrant ascidian Styela clava Herdman is native to
the northwest Pacific. It was first found in British waters in
1953. The spread of this sessile invertebrate in western
European waters during the fifty years since its introduction is
described, and the current distribution is reviewed with
reference to physical constraints and the dispersal methods
available. Natural dispersion may account for the spread to
neighbouring sites, but isolated populations can best be
explained by man-aided dispersal. Suitable vectors are proposed
and the potential for further spread is discussed.
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Daniel Abed-Navandi and Reinhard
Kikinger
First record of the tropical scyphomedusa Phyllorhiza
punctata von Lendenfeld, 1884 (Cnidaria: Rhizostomeae)
in the Central Mediterranean Sea (pp 391-394)
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Ephyrae and adult medusae of Phyllorhiza punctata were
found in 2005 and 2006 in the Ionian Sea, Greece. The youngest
ephyrae had a diameter of 1.5 mm and already contained symbiotic
zooxanthellae. The biggest medusae, with 45 cm bell diameter,
were found in September 2005 in the Bay of Vlyho on the Ionian
Island Lefkada. There they occurred simultaneously with ephyrae
and young medusae. Adult medusae were also observed in September
2006 in the harbour of Igoumenitsa. In a laboratory maintenance
trial, collected ephyrae grew to an umbrella diameter of 4.6 cm
in 60 days. This is the first record of a reproducing population
of tropical medusae in the Central Mediterranean Sea.
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Hans Ulrik Riisgård, Line Bøttiger,
Caroline V. Madsen and Jennifer E. Purcell
Invasive ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi in
Limfjorden (Denmark) in late summer 2007 - assessment of
abundance and predation effects
(pp 395-401)
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The invasive ctenophore, Mnemiopsis leidyi, was recently
observed for the first time in Danish waters where it was widely
distributed during the summer of 2007. In certain areas,
including Limfjorden, it exhibited mass occurrence. In this
study, we assess the abundance of M. leidyi in Limfjorden
in the late summer of 2007 and give a preliminary evaluation of
the predation effects of this ctenophore. On two cruises in
August and September, M. leidyi was found in every net
sample from 9 locations in Limfjorden. The population densities
were high, up to more than 800 individuals m-3 in the
innermost part, but body lengths were small (5 to 15 mm). The
bio-volumes were very high (100 and 300 ml m-3) in
the central parts of Limfjorden and are even greater than those
from the Black Sea, where the greatest mean bio-volume was about
184 ml m-3 in the autumn of 1989 when the zooplankton
and fish stocks collapsed. The possible ecological consequences
of the mass occurrence of this ctenophore are discussed.
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Marco Faasse and Marianne Ligthart
The American oyster drill, Urosalpinx cinerea
(Say, 1822), introduced to The Netherlands – increased risks
after ban on TBT? (pp 402-406)
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A few specimens and egg capsules of the American oyster drill,
Urosalpinx cinerea, have been found in the Oosterschelde,
an area of shellfish culture in The Netherlands. Probably U.
cinerea was introduced with imported shellfish from
south-east England. It is expected that the oyster drill will
establish itself firmly in The Netherlands. The ban on
anti-fouling paints containing tributyltin has increased the
risk of introduction of oyster drills to new areas in Europe.
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Alexandra Gubanova and Denis Altukhov
Establishment of Oithona brevicornis Giesbrecht, 1892 (Copepoda:
Cyclopoida) in the Black Sea
(pp 407-410)
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Long-term, regular studies of coastal plankton communities were
resumed in 2002, based on bi-weekly plankton casts at three
stations located within and adjacent to Sevastopol Bay, Crimea,
northern Black Sea. In October 2005 two adult females of
Oithona brevicornis were initially discovered in a sample
taken during a routine plankton survey. Within one month after
this discovery O. brevicornis began to appear in the
samples regularly. In November 2005 the total abundance of O.
brevicornis exceeded 1000 ind./m3 in the central
part of the Bay. From April 2006, O. brevicornis disappeared
completely from net catches and was absent until July 2006 when
this species reappeared. The peak abundance of this species –
42667 ind./m3 – was recorded at the central station
within the Bay at the end of October 2006. The possible route of
invasion and the seasonal dynamics of this new copepod species
in the Black Sea coastal region are discussed.
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Elizabeth J. Cook, Marlene Jahnke,
Francis Kerckhof, Dan Minchin, Marco Faasse, Karin Boos
and Gail Ashton
European expansion of the introduced amphipod Caprella mutica Schurin, 1935 (pp 411-421)
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The amphipod Caprella mutica is one of the most rapidly
invading species in Europe and has extended its range throughout
North Sea and Celtic Sea coasts and the English Channel in less
than fourteen years. It was first described from sub-boreal
areas of north-east Asia in 1935 and has since spread to both
northern and southern hemispheres. The first European record was
from The Netherlands in 1994. Since then it has spread within
the North Sea and later to the west coast of Scotland and to
Ireland. C. mutica is frequently associated with man-made
structures and is found in abundance on boat hulls, navigation/
offshore buoys, floating pontoons and aquaculture
infrastructure. It is highly likely that its dispersal is
associated with vessel movements whilst attached to hull
fouling. This species is expected to colonise the west coasts of
France and Spain and offshore islands in the north-east
Atlantic.
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Eila O. Lahdes and Leena A. Karjala
Implications of water ionic composition for invasion of
euryhaline species in inland waters – an experimental study
with Cercopagis pengoi from the Northern Baltic Sea
(pp 422-430)
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Osmoregulation efficiency greatly determines the settling of
aquatic invasive species in a new environment. The successful
establishment of invasive cladoceran Cercopagis pengoi in
the North American Great Lakes raises the question about a
possible invasion of this species from the Baltic Sea to
freshwater bodies like the Finnish Lake District using canals
and rivers as invasion corridors. However, major ion
concentrations (Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+,
Cl-, SO42-) in Finnish and in many other
North European fresh waters are much lower than those in the
Great Lakes. In our study we compared the survival of
nonacclimated C. pengoi in waters collected from the
Baltic Sea and Lake Saimaa as well as in experimentally
ion-enriched Lake Saimaa water, which resembles the ion
characteristics of the waters of the Great Lakes colonized by
C. pengoi. In short-term experiments (24 and 56 h), the
survival of C. pengoi was poor in Lake Saimaa water
compared with Baltic Sea or enriched Lake Saimaa water. LT50
was lowest in Lake Saimaa water (9.51 h), followed by Baltic Sea
water (18.4 h) and enriched Lake Saimaa water (20.5 h).
Furthermore, single ion additions improved survival in Lake
Saimaa water. According to this preliminary study, imminent
invasion of C. pengoi to freshwater systems with low
concentrations of major ions appears unlikely. However, the
impact of adaptation on the survival and dispersion of C.
pengoi remains open.
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Short communications |
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Jan Rueness, Erling Heggøy, Vivian Husa
and Kjersti Sjøtun
First report of the Japanese red alga Antithamnion
nipponicum (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta) in Norway, an
invasive species new to northern Europe (pp 431-434)
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The red alga Antithamnion nipponicum was discovered on
the west coast of Norway, south of Bergen in 2007. From its
native range in Japan and Korea the alga was first introduced to
the Mediterranean Sea in 1988. Except for a possible report from
the Azores (as A. pectinatum) there are no published
records from European Atlantic coasts. The introduction to
Norway most likely occurred via fouling on ship hulls, or by
ballast water. Vegetative and tetrasporangium-bearing plants
were found, and the specimens conform to the detailed
description recently published by Cho et al. (2005), based on
material from Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America where
the alga is also a recent introduction.
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Konstantinos Tsiamis and Panayotis
Panayotidis
First record of the red alga Asparagopsis taxiformis
(Delile) Trevisan de Saint-Léon in Greece
(pp 435-438)
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The red alga Asparagopsis taxiformis, a seaweed that is
possibly introduced in the Mediterranean Sea, is recorded for
the first time in Greece. Although no invasive behaviour was
observed at any studied site, its spread seems to have been
progressive during the last couple of years. However, the origin
of the population on the Greek coasts remains uncertain.
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M. Baki Yokes, Engin Meric and Niyazi
Avsar
On the Presence of Alien Foraminifera Amphistegina
lobifera Larsen on the coasts of the Maltese Islands (pp
439-441)
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More than 30 alien foraminifera species have been reported from
the Levantine Basin. The most abundant of them is the
Indo-Pacific originated Amphistegina lobifera Larsen,
which is the dominant foraminifera species on the coasts of
Israel and southwestern coasts of Turkey. It is widely
distributed in the Eastern Mediterranean, Aegean Sea and even
recorded in the Sea of Marmara. The westernmost limits of its
distribution extend to Libya and Tunisia. This study constitutes
the first record of Amphistegina lobifera Larsen from the
Maltese Islands in June 2006.
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Roland Krone, Carsten Wanke and
Alexander Schröder
A new record of Styela clava Herdman, 1882 (Urochordata,
Ascidiacea) from the central German Bight (pp 442-444)
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The Asian ascidian Styela clava was recorded for the
first time from the island of Helgoland-Düne, Germany, in July
2007. This is the first record of this species from the only two
offshore islands in the SE North Sea.
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Maiju Lehtiniemi, Jari-Pekka Pääkkönen,
Juha Flinkman, Tarja Katajisto, Elena Gorokhova, Miina
Karjalainen, Satu Viitasalo and Heidi Björk
Distribution and abundance of the American comb jelly (Mnemiopsis
leidyi) – A rapid invasion to the northern Baltic Sea
during 2007 (pp 445-449)
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The invasive ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi is expanding
its range in the Baltic Sea. It was observed in the Landsort
Deep in March 2007 and in the western part of the Gulf of
Finland, Åland and Bothnian Seas in August 2007. In September
the abundances were several times higher in the Gulf of Finland
and the Åland Sea than in August, maximum abundances being 694
ind m-2, and densities 24 ind m-3. In
December M. leidyi
was observed also in the eastern Gulf of Finland at low
abundances. Eggs and newly hatched larvae as well as juvenile
stages were observed during autumn, indicating efficient
reproduction and establishment of the species in the northern
Baltic Sea.
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Urszula Janas and Aleksandra Zgrundo
First record of Mnemiopsis leidyi A. Agassiz, 1865
in the Gulf of Gdańsk (southern Baltic Sea)
(pp 450-454)
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We report the discovery of Mnemiopsis leidyi A. Agassiz,
1865 in the Gulf of Gdańsk (southern Baltic Sea, Poland) in
October 2007. During the first month of observations the species
was found in many areas of the Gulf of Gdańsk, from the surface
to a depth of 42 m. The length of individual M. leidyi
varied from 1.8 to 8.0 cm.
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Ole Secher Tendal, Kathe R. Jensen and Hans Ulrik Riisgård
Invasive ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi widely distributed in Danish waters
(pp 455-460)
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Blooms of Mnemiopsis leidyi observed along the coast of
The Netherlands in late 2006 have made the spreading of this
invasive ctenophore to neighboring waters a topic of major
concern. Here we report on recent occurrences of M. leidyi
in Danish waters, observed partly by ourselves and other
biologists, partly by beach guests, boat owners and amateur
divers. The earliest record of M. leidyi is from August
2005 and the early summer of 2006, and in 2007, the earliest
records are from February and March, from the northern Little
Belt and Kerteminde Bay. In the period April to June, the
density of M. leidyi remained very low in the Great Belt,
but numerous reports indicate that the ctenophore in July to
September was widely distributed in all inner Danish waters, and
"mass occurrences" have been reported from certain areas.
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Alper Doğan, Mesut Önen and Bilal
Öztürk
A new record of the invasive Red Sea mussel
Brachidontes pharaonis (Fischer P., 1870) (Bivalvia:
Mytilidae) from the Turkish coasts
(pp 461-463)
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A specimen of the invasive mytilid mussel Brachidontes
pharaonis (Fischer P., 1870) was collected on 18 April 2007
in Karaburun Peninsula, İzmir. This record represents the
northernmost occurrence of the species along the Aegean coast of
Turkey. Information on the distribution of the species along the
Mediterranean coast of Turkey is provided.
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Murat Sezgin, Eylem Aydemir, A. Suat
Ateş, Tuncer Katağan and Tahir Özcan
On the presence of the non-native estuarine shrimp,
Palaemon longirostris H.Milne-Edwards, 1837 (Decapoda,
Caridea), in the Black Sea
(pp 464-465)
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The non-native estuarine shrimp, Palaemon longirostris H.
Milne Edwards, 1837, is reported for the first time on the Sinop
Peninsula coast (southern Black Sea). The species is previously
known to occur in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean and the
eastern Mediterranean including the Aegean Sea and the Sea of
Marmara.
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Murat Bilecenoglu
The first record of Monotaxis grandoculis (Forsskål,
1775) (Osteichthyes, Lethrinidae) in the Mediterranean Sea
(pp 466-467)
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The first Mediterranean record of the Indo-Pacific humpnose
big-eye bream, Monotaxis grandoculis (Forsskål, 1775),
was recently reported at Antalya Bay, Turkey. It is suggested
that this fish had entered the Mediterranean through the Suez
Canal.
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Alexander Antsulevich
First records of the tubenose goby Proterorhinus
marmoratus (Pallas, 1814) in the Baltic Sea
(pp 468-470)
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The Ponto-Caspian invasive gobiid fish Proterorhinus
marmoratus (tubenose goby) is recorded for the first time
from the Baltic Sea area: single specimens were found in the
Neva River on 15 August 2006 and the eastern part of the Gulf of
Finland on 23 July 2007. This fish is at the initial stage of a
Baltic Sea invasion.
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