Hull fouling

Artificial reefs created by deliberately sinking ships off the coast of the Florida Keys island chain are providing new habitat for marine invertebrates. This newly developing fouling community includes the previously reported invasive orange tube coral Tubastraea coccinea and the non-native giant foam oyster Hyotissa hyotis. New SCUBA-based surveys involving five shipwrecks spanning the upper, middle, and lower Florida Keys, show T. coccinea now also established in the lower Keys and H. hyotis likewise extending to new sites. Two additional mollusks found on the artificial reefs, the amathinid gastropod Cyclothyca pacei and gryphaeid oyster Hyotissa mcgintyi, the latter also common in the natural reef areas, are discussed as potentially non-native. A new species of sessile, suspension-feeding, worm-snail, Thylacodes vandyensis Bieler, Rawlings & Collins n. sp. (Vermetidae), is described from the wreck of the USNS Vandenberg off Key West and discussed as potentially invasive. This new species is compared morphologically and by DNA barcode markers to other known members of the genus, and may be a recent arrival from the Pacific Ocean. Thylacodes vandyensis is polychromatic, with individuals varying in both overall head-foot coloration and mantle margin color pattern. Females brood stalked egg capsules attached to their shell within the confines of their mantle cavity, and give rise to crawl-away juveniles. Such direct-developing species have the demonstrated capacity for colonizing habitats isolated far from their native ranges and establishing rapidly growing founder populations. Vermetid gastropods are common components of the marine fouling community in warm temperate and tropical waters and, as such, have been tagged as potentially invasive or with a high potential to be invasive in the Pacific Ocean. As vermetids can influence coral growth/composition in the Pacific and have been reported serving as intermediate hosts for blood flukes of loggerhead turtles, such new arrivals in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary are of concern. Growing evidence indicates that artificial reefs can act as permanent way-stations for arriving non-natives, providing nurseries within which populations may grow in an environment with reduced competition compared to native habitats. How to cite this article Bieler et al. (2017), Non-native molluscan colonizers on deliberately placed shipwrecks in the Florida Keys, with description of a new species of potentially invasive worm-snail (Gastropoda: Vermetidae). PeerJ 5:e3158; DOI 10.7717/peerj.3158

Abstract This study reports the first record of the cheilostome bryozoan Watersipora arcuata in the Mediterranean Sea, namely in a marina of the Ligurian Sea (Italy), during two monitoring surveys carried out in 2013 and 2014, representing to date the first European finding. The species, whose native origin is deemed to be the Tropical Eastern Pacific region, was already reported as being introduced to California, Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii, but not outside the Pacific Ocean. The genus Watersipora includes 13 species of encrusting bryozoans, difficult to distinguish using simple visual clues and usually requiring careful morphological measurements, with appropriate microscopy methods. A detailed taxonomic description of W. arcuata is provided here, in comparison with the similar species W. nigra and W. platypora.

This paper analyzes the case of an oil tanker vessel, class Panamax, belonging to Petrobras Transporte S.A. fleet, observing the fuel oil consumption of the main engine, before and after hull treatment. Investigations were conducted based on main engine performance, daily report of fuel oil consumption and energy efficiency regulations and guidance, in order to calculate the ship emission. The main results show that the treatment of the hull provides a significant reduction on the consumption of fuel oil, thus reducing the ship emission. The research also identifies the financial savings resulting from cleaning and painting of the hull.

Transcript of a live online chat about 'invasive species' from July 2012, precipitated by the well-publicized arrival in Oregon of a floating dock liberated from the Japanese coast by the March 2011 tsunami.  With Matt Chew, Mark Hoddle (U. California Riverside) and John Chapman (Oregon State U.)

Marine epibenthic (fouling) communities are useful systems for studying community composition because of the importance of growth rate, overgrowth competition and space limitation. Fouling systems have been examined in order to assess shifting range limits, spread of invasive species, and shifts in species assemblages with climate change. Even though data on invasions and community shifts show correlations with climate change, causation cannot be established without studies of thermal responses and other underlying mechanisms. This study experimentally assessed growth rates of several tunicates and bryozoans in 8 regions along the east and west coasts of the United States, from southern California to Alaska and Florida to Maine. Several encrusting species showed significant changes in growth rate as well as large variability between regions in response to increased temperature. Photo surveys of floating docks were also conducted at 20 harbors in each region in order to compare communities and overgrowth competition. On the west coast of the US, competition between encrusting ascidians and bryozoans is more intense at southern than northern sites, and invasive species tend to be dominant competitors. Results for the east coast do not show the same latitudinal patterns in competition but do display similar dominance by invasive species. Photo surveys have also enabled the characterization of relative abundance of several fouling species throughout a large portion of their geographic ranges. The ultimate goal of this project is to predict the impact that invasive species will have on fouling communities after the invasives are introduced and become established in a new region.