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International Journal of Marine Science 2014, Vol.4, No.14: 134-142
http://ijms.sophiapublisher.com
135
these studies are now in press or have not been
published yet.
Similarly to what happened in Florida (Benson et al.,
2001; McGuire and Stevely, 2009), Asian green
mussels population has continued to spread quickly in
Cienfuegos Bay and economic problems have resulted
because of mussels growth at pipes of the local power
plant “Carlos Manuel de Céspedes”. Nevertheless, the
biology of mussel has not been studied yet for this new
habitat and there is a lot of speculation, but little has
been demonstrated about the ecological impact of that
species in the bay. In Venezuela, for instance, has been
proved that the dominance of
P. viridis
on certain
ecosystems causes negative impacts and makes
decrease the diversity (species richness) and the system
productivity (Fernández and Jiménez, 2007). The
knowledge about the damages that
P. viridis
could
cause to biodiversity and to the ecosystems dynamics
in Cuba is urgent and vital, even more when this
species has been recently reported also in Mariel Bay
(Lopeztegui et al., 2013), at the north - west of Cuba . It
exist a big project on exotic invasions that includes
several species, plants and animals that are carefully
observed and handle in our country, directed by
CITMA and CNAP (Environmental and Technological
Research Agency and National Centre for Protected
Areas, abbreviations are respectively from Spanish), a
Cuban organization that regulates and design this kind
of policies. The Asian green mussel is one of those
species.
In the case of Cienfuegos, this topic requires particular
attention because of the high contamination levels due
to the anthropogenic action. This contamination
deteriorates general conditions in the Bay and it is
reflected in loss, decrease or displacement of species
(Rey-Novoa, 2004). Those events could be facilitated
by the current presence of mussels. The aim of this
study was to determine the composition by groups and
space-temporary variations of the epifauna associated
to
P. viridis
in Cienfuegos Bay. Based on this, the
ecological impact of mussels in the Bay could be partly
inferred.
1 Results
1.1 Qualitative composition of epifauna associated
to
P. viridis
Both biomass and occurrence frequency (on spatial and
temporary scale) were highest for Barnacles. This
group represented about 90 % of total biomass justly
because it was the most numerous group.
Balanus
eburneus
(Gould, 1841) was the best represented
species. Although in November nor ascidians or
bryozoans where found at PG and M7, in February and
May those groups followed the barnacles in order of
importance based on the biomass values (Figure 1).
Figure 1 Biomass percentages of the main groups of epifauna
associated to the Asian green mussel
Perna viridis
in Cienfuegos
Bay.
The bryozoans were represented by three species
belonging to the families Smittinidae (Levinsen, 1909),
Membraniporidae (Busk, 1852) and Bugulidae (Gray,
1848).
Bugula neritina
(Linnaeus, 1758) was the
species of highest biomass and occurrence frequency.
The ascidians were represented by three species
belonging to the families Ascidiidae and Styelidae. In
this case, the occurrence frequency was similar for the
three species. The highest biomass was
Phallusia nigra
(Savigny, 1816).
Less represented in the three wharves were some other
groups such as sponges, anemones, polychaetes,
amphipods, not sessile crustaceans (e.g. brachyuran
and anomuran), turbellarians, ophiuroids, and other
mollusks such as gastropods and bivalves. All
identified species or groups are listed on Table 1.
1.2 Temporary variations of the biomass of epifauna
associated to
P. viridis
The total biomass values decreased from February to
May and increase toward November at all sampling
sites (Table 2). Significant differences were found for
the main groups of the epifauna. However, not
significant differences were detected between months
when comparing the total mean values (Figure 2).
Based on the biomass of epifauna associated to each
mussel, it was demonstrated that May shows a lower
mean value (1.13 g/m). February and November show
1.77 g/m and 2.81 g/m respective values.