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International Journal of Marine Science 2014, Vol.4, No.14: 134-142
http://ijms.sophiapublisher.com
134
Research Article Open Access
Epifauna Associated with the Asian Green Mussel
Perna viridis
(Mytiloida:
Mytilidae) in Cienfuegos Bay, Cuba
Alexander Lopeztegui - Castillo
1
, Adriana Artiles - Valor
1,
, Yuliesky Garcés - Rodríguez
1
, Roberto - Castelo Báez
1
, Ninieska Castro
- Graña
2
1. Fisheries Research Center, 5th. Ave. and 246, Barlovento, Playa, Havana, Cuba
2. Fishery of Cienfuegos, Fertilizers Street, Industry Zone Number 2. Obourke, Cienfuegos, Cuba
Corresponding author email:
aartiles@cip.alinet.cu
International Journal of Marine Science, 2014, Vol.4, No.14 doi: 10.5376/ijms.2014.04.0014
Received: 28 Nov., 2013
Accepted: 29 Dec., 2013
Published: 02 Feb., 2014
Copyright
©
2014 Lopeztegui - Castillo et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Lopeztegui - Castillo et al., 2014, Epifauna Associated with the Asian Green Mussel
Perna viridis
(Mytiloida: Mytilidae) in Cienfuegos Bay, Cuba,
International Journal of Marine Science, Vol.4, No.14: 134-142 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2014.04.0014)
Abstract
In this study we explored the species composition, space and temporary variations of the epifauna associated with the
invasive species
Perna viridis
(Asian green mussel) in Cienfuegos Bay. Epifauna was collected by scraping shells surface of 577
P.
viridis
individuals extracted from four sites where greater abundance: the wharves Pablo Guzmán (PG), Siete Cuadras (M7), Punta La
Cueva (PC), and the Barco Hundido (BH). The first three sites were located near to human population establishments while BH was
relatively far from such establishments. Barnacles (Cirripedia) were the most important group among sampled epifauna, followed by
bryozoans and ascidians. Other groups as sponges, anemones, polychaetes, non-sessile crustaceans like brachyurans and anomurans,
turbellaries, ophiuroids, bivalves and gasthropods, were also represented. A total of 39 species were identified as components of
epifauna, which coexist naturally with mussels without demonstrating ecosystem affectations or mutual exclusion effects
(displacement of species). The total biomass values decreased from February to May and increase toward November at all sampling
sites. Significant differences were found for the main groups of the epifauna when comparing on temporal scale. Total biomass values
showed significant differences on spatial scale. BH was the site with less value, only vegetal elements were found. Those differences
could be related with anthropogenic impact, which is greater near to human population establishment (Cienfuegos City). The
information providing by this study seems to be against the hypothesis that
P. viridis
represents an ecological damage in Cienfuegos
Bay at least for the current mussel densities, but it is not enough to reject that hypothesis.
Keywords
Perna viridis
; Asian green mussel; Invasive species; Cienfuegos Bay
Background
As expressed in the Convention on Biological
Diversity (2002), an exotic species could be considered
as invasive when its propagation threats ecosystems,
habitats or other species, and consequently produces
socio-cultural, economic, environmental or human
health damages. The presence of exotic or invasive
species usually causes changes on ecosystem dynamics
to which they integrate (Ruiz et al., 1997; Albins and
Hixon, 2008). Commonly, these changes imply a
negative impact based on the displacement of species
or the broken balance on predatory relationships.
However, the spread of exotic or invasive species
sometimes do not significantly affect the ecosystems or
could even be profitable for them. That is mainly due to
their bioengineering character (Kelaher et al., 2007;
Darrigran and Damboreana, 2011) or their assimilation
for certain substances like hydrocarbons (Núñez et al.,
2010).
Asian green mussels
Perna viridis
(Linnaeus, 1758) are
thought to have been accidentally introduced in
Cienfuegos Bay through the ballast water or biofouling
of international commercial ships, similar to what is
known to have occurred in other regions of the
Caribbean (Carlton and Hodder, 1995; McGuire and
Stevely, 2009). When the first scientific report of this
species took place (Fernández-Garcés and Rolán,
2005), density was already up to 18 000 individuals per
square meter. After eight years, studies on mussels have
been focused in abundance and distribution pattern
(Lopeztegui-Castillo et al., 2014), and the use of
mussels as bio monitoring organochlorine pesticides
(Alonso - Hernández et al., 2012) and Polycyclic
hydrocarbons (Vega - Bolaños et al., 2014) and heavy
metal concentrations in the body tissues, as well as
their microbiological quality (Martínez et al., 2014).
Recently, another research about the survivals of
mussels has been developed. Unfortunately, most of