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Citation: Arteaga-Flórez C, Fernández-Rodríguez V, Londoño-Mesa MH (2014) First record of the polychaete Ficopomatus uschakovi (Pillai, 1960) (Annelida, Serpulidae) in the Colombian Caribbean, South America. ZooKeys 371: 1–11. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.371.5588
The genus Ficopomatus (Serpulidae) consists of sessile, tubicolous polychaete annelid worms that may colonize a diversity of substrata, and tolerate considerable variations in salinity. Thus, members of this genus, including Ficopomatus uschakovi, in some cases are exotic and maybe invasive. The purpose of our research was to collect and identify marine organisms associated with the submerged roots of mangrove trees in the Gulf of Urabá, Colombian Caribbean, South America. Within the Gulf, there is a well-developed forest of the Red Mangrove, Rhizophora mangle, along the margins of El Uno Bay. We sampled the roots of R. mangle from five stations of the bay, and we identified specimens of F. uschakovi from each of those stations. Ficopomatus uschakovi was found to be more abundant in regions of the bay that exhibit the lowest salinity. Based on a morphological comparison of the present specimens with the original species description, revised descriptions, and other records from the Indo-West Pacific, Mexican Pacific, and Venezuelan and Brazilian Caribbean, we suggest that F. uschakovi has a broader geographical distribution. Furthermore, because of this broad distribution, and the observed tolerance for low salinity in our study, we also suggest that F. uschakovi is a euryhaline species. It is also likely that F. uschakovi will be found in other localities in the Gulf of Urabá, and in other regions of the Colombian Caribbean. Thus, this record extends the distribution of the species to the Colombian Caribbean, giving the species a continuous distribution across the northern coast of South America.
El género Ficopomatus, familia Serpulidae, está compuesto por gusanos poliquetos tubícolas y sésiles que pueden colonizar gran cantidad de sustratos y tolerar variaciones considerables de salinidad. Así, los miembros de éste género, incluyendo Ficopomatus uschakovi, en algunos casos pueden ser considerados exóticos y tal vez invasores. El propósito de nuestra investigación fue recolectar e identificar los organismos marinos asociados a raíces sumergidas de árboles de mangle rojo, Rhizophora mangle, en el golfo de Urabá, Caribe colombiano, Suramérica. Dentro del golfo de Urabá, existe un bosque bien desarrollado de R. mangle, a lo largo de las márgenes de la bahía El Uno. Se tomaron muestras de mangle rojo en cinco estaciones y seidentificó a F. uschakovi para cada una de ellas. Esta especie exhibió mayor abundancia en zonas de la bahía con menor salinidad. Basados en la similitud morfológica que exhiben los ejemplares con la descripción original de la especie, descripciones revisadas e identificaciones reportadas en el oeste del Indopacífico, Pacífico mexicano y la zona Caribe de Venezuela y Brasil, sugerimos que F. uschakovi tiene una amplia distribución geográfica. Además, por esta amplia distribución y la tolerancia observada a bajas concentraciones salinas en nuestro estudio, sugerimos que F. uschakovi es una especie eurihalina. También es probable que F. uschakovi se pueda encontrar en otras localidades en el golfo de Urabá, y en otras regiones del Caribe colombiano. Este registro amplía la distribución de la especie al Caribe colombiano, lo cual demuestra una continuidad en la costa norte de Suramérica.
Euryhaline, exotic species, polychaete, species distribution, taxonomy
The family Serpulidae Rafinesque, 1815, includes a group of sedentary polychaetes that are easily recognizable by their calcareous tubes, with irregularly twisted or spiral growth, and by the complexity of their radiolar crown (
The genus Ficopomatus Southern, 1921 (subfamily Ficopomatinae Pillai, 1960) is characterized by having an opaque tube with or without keels, peristomes, and tabulae; a body that tapers in diameter from anterior to posterior; a conical or pear-shaped operculum inserted behind the left brachial lobe, uncovered or covered with either a chitinous, non-calcified endplate or with numerous chitinous spines in the distal tissue; the collar is non-lobed with “saw-edged” chaetae; the thorax may have free or fused thoracic membranes; there are seven chaetigers with limbate notochaetae, and six uncinigerous tori having uncini with 6 to 12 teeth; the abdomen contains numerous segments with capillary-toothed chaetae (
Ficopomatus uschakovi was described from Sri Lanka (
According to the
This study provides the first record of Ficopomatus uschakovi in the Gulf of Urabá, in a region that has been recently studied in the context of marine biodiversity. Additionally, our research provides a morphological comparison of Ficopomatus uschakovi with a sympatric species, Ficopomatus miamiensis, which may be competing for resources with the former, likely exotic, species within the Gulf.
Study area. The Gulf of Urabá is located on the northern coast of Colombia adjacent to the Isthmus of Panama, and is part of the Nica-Colombian continental shelf (
El Uno Bay is located near the southeastern end of the Gulf, to the north of the municipality of Turbo (Fig. 1A–C). The bay is approximately 1.8 km long, 0.89 km wide, with an average depth of 1.0 m, and extends in a north-south direction. According to the mangrove system by
Study Area: A Colombia B Gulf of Urabá C El Uno Bay (Red points correspond to sampling sites).
Sampling. El Uno Bay was sampled at five stations during August 2009 (Fig. 1C). Sampling was conducted according to the following collection process: (i) selection of the submerged roots of Rhizophora mangle trees not reaching the substrate, when possible; (ii) cutting and removal of 1–5 roots from different trees at each station, (iii) fixation of roots in a solution of 10% formalin in sea water.
In the laboratory, sampled roots of Rhizophora mangle were processed as follows: (i) formalin was removed by multiple freshwater exchanges through a 250 µm sieve to retain organisms; (ii) invertebrate and algal specimens (macroalgae, cyanobacteria) were selected and removed from roots; (iii) invertebrate specimens were preserved in 70% ethanol; macroalgae were preserved in 4% formaldehyde; (iv) invertebrates were separated into higher-level taxa (e.g. phylum, class, family), and (v) polychaetes were identified to levels of family, genus and species. The polychaete specimens were deposited in the Colección de Invertebrados Marinos, Universidad de Antioquia (CIMUA).
Taxonomic analysis. Four polychaete families were identified (Nereididae, Sabellidae, Serpulidae, Spionidae); however, only serpulids were considered for this research. For polychaete identification, we followed the dichotomous, taxonomic keys for genera prepared by
http://species-id.net/wiki/Ficopomatus_uschakovi
Figure 2A–JEstuary of the Panadura River, Sri Lanka, Indian Ocean.
CIMUA POLY SERP 0031B (1), Punta Yarumal (8°6'10"N, 76°44'36"W), El Uno Bay; Sta. 28, Root 3; August 8, 2009; col. C. Arteaga-Flórez. CIMUA POLY SERP 0032 (1), Punta Yarumal, (8°6'34"N, 76°44'22"W), El Uno Bay, Sta. 29, Root 5, August 8, 2009, col. C. Arteaga-Flórez. CIMUA POLY SERP 0033 (1), El Faro (8°6'36"N, 76°44'50"W), El Uno Bay; Sta. 30, Root 5; August 8, 2009; col. C. Arteaga-Flórez. CIMUA POLY SERP 0034 (5), Ciénaga de las Mujeres (8°6'55"N, 76°44'51"W), El Uno Bay; Sta. 31, Root 1; August 8, 2009, col. C. Arteaga-Flórez. CIMUA POLY SERP 0035 (12), Ciénaga de las Mujeres (8°6'56"N, 76°44'56"W), El Uno Bay; Sta. 32, Root 5; August 8, 2009; col. C. Arteaga-Flórez.
Complete specimen: Irregularly curved calcareous tubes, forming agregations. Thorax colour, brown; tori colour dark brown; abdomen colour beige; dark brown medial line along the dorsum. Length, 5.0 mm; width, 0.6 mm, with 7 thoracic chaetigers and 33 abdominal chaetigers. Branchial crown colour beige, divided into two groups of radioles: six radioles on right side, and seven radioles on left side; each radiole with six transverse bands in a ring-like arrangement with wide dark brown color pattern; most basal ring wider and darker than the rest; ventral base of branchial crown black. Inter-radiolar membrane absent. Operculum spherical with radial symmetry (Fig. 2B, C, E, F), and with a sub-convex distal plate; four rows of transparent spines directed outward, with spines of the interior row approximately one-half the length of spines in the other rows; peduncle colour, beige with dark brown groove. Eyes absent. Collar with entire margin; thoracic membranes fused along the dorsum; six thoracic neuropodial tori. Chaetae from collar serrated, with one longitudinal line of teeth from the base to the apex (Fig. 2I, J), thorax with capillary chaetae (Fig. 2H), and abdomen with geniculate chaetae, proximal half serrated (Fig. 2G), and distal half smooth. Thoracic uncini saw-shaped with 6–7 teeth (Fig. 2K). Rounded pygidium with a midline incision.
Ficopomatus uschakovi (Pillai, 1960). Specimen SERP 0031B: A Antero-dorsal view B Operculum in anterior view C Operculum in lateral view G Geniculate chaetae from the abdomen H Limbate chaetae from chaetiger 3 I Toothed and limbate chaetae from collar J Toothed chaetae, detail K Uncini from chaetiger 3. Specimen SERP 0033 in methyl green: D Complete specimen in dorsal view E Operculum in lateral view. Specimen 1 SERP 0034: F Operculum in lateral view.
The specimens vary in length from 3 mm to 7.5 mm, in width from 0.5 mm to 0.8 mm. The number of chaetigers varies from 36 to 45. The number of transparent rows of spines from the operculum varies from 1 to 4. The number of transversal rings in the crown varies from 4 to 6.
Ficopomatus uschakovi was present in samples from the opening of El Uno Bay, in sympatry with Ficopomatus miamiensis, although Ficopomatus uschakovi was more abundant inside of El Uno Bay. Of these two serpulid species, only Ficopomatus uschakovi was found within the inner bay, which may indicate that this species has replaced Ficopomatus miamiensis in that region. Morphologically, Ficopomatus uschakovi differs from Ficopomatus miamiensis by the presence of a spherical operculum with 1–4 transparent spines in a radial arrangement, and dorsal fusion of the thoracic membranes. These characters represent important diagnostic features for recognizing Ficopomatus uschakovi, according to
According to
We consider Ficopomatus uschakovi as an exotic species in the Colombian Caribbean. It is likely that this species may have been transported to the Gulf of Urabá from the Indo-Pacific attached to hulls of ships crossing from the Pacific Ocean to Caribbean Sea through Panama Canal, or from the Eastern coast of Africa to the Caribbean. Once in the Gulf, the species migrated to El Uno Bay, which is very close to the place where the ships are charged, aided by the tidal currents. Also, in support that Ficopomatus uschakovi is an exotic species: during 2009 the species was found only in El Uno Bay, southern Gulf of Urabá; but, during 2012, this species was found also to the north of El Uno Bay, where it was not found before. This means that the distribution of the species has spread along the eastern coast of the Gulf in a South-North direction. This study provides the first record of Ficopomatus uschakovi in Colombia. However, many localities of the northern Colombian Caribbean lack information on the distribution of Ficopomatus uschakovi, which limits our understanding of its distribution in the southern Caribbean. Further distributional data will be presented in a forthcoming paper on the biogeography of the species.
Finally, specimens of Ficopomatus uschakovi were found on mangrove roots in association with specimens of other species belonging to the families Nereididae (Neanthes succinea, Stenoninereis tecolutlensis and Namalycastis sp. 1), Sabellidae (Demonax lacunosus), and Spionidae (Boccardiella sp.). Future research should include formal descriptions of these other species, and an assessment of their respective distribution patterns. Physical-chemical conditions found within the Bay during the sampling period are provided in Table 1.
Physical-chemical conditions found in El Uno Bay, during the sampling period. Abbreviations: O2 oxygen; T Temperature; TDS dissolved solids; Sal Salinity; Cond Conductivity.
Locality | Site | Station | [O2] (mg/L) | O2 (%) | T (°C) | pH | TDS (ppt) | Sal (ppt) | Cond. (mS) | Specific cond. (mS) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
El Uno Bay | Punta Yarumal | 28 | 4, 18 | 61 | 30, 4 | 7, 13 | > 2000 | 9, 2 | 17, 41 | 13, 88 |
El Uno Bay | Punta Yarumal | 29 | 5, 16 | 66, 6 | 29, 8 | 7, 22 | > 2000 | 9 | 16, 87 | 15, 48 |
El Uno Bay | El Faro | 30 | 4, 33 | 69, 7 | 28, 6 | 7, 53 | > 2000 | 9, 2 | 14, 85 | 15, 57 |
El Uno Bay | Ciénaga de las Mujeres | 31 | 2, 12 | 31, 2 | 27, 5 | 7, 3 | > 2000 | 0, 4 | 0, 16 | 0, 09 |
El Uno Bay | Ciénaga de las Mujeres | 32 | 0, 55 | 7, 6 | 26, 4 | 7, 35 | > 2000 | 1, 3 | 13, 54 | 11, 72 |
Indian Ocean from the Eastern coast of Africa to Australia; Eastern Pacific in Southern Mexico; Western Atlantic, in the Colombian, Venezuelan and Brazilian Caribbean coasts. Eastern Atlantic, in the Gulf of Guinea.
This research was part of the project, “Expedición Estuarina al Golfo de Urabá (EEGU)” included in the mega project “Expedición Antioquia 2013” by Gobernación de Antioquia. This research is also part of the project, “Comparación ecológica de dos bahías en el golfo de Urabá, a través del estudio de macroalgas y gusanos marinos asociados a las raíces del mangle rojo”, funded by the Committee for Research Development, CODI (IN606CE) Vice-rectoría de Investigación, Universidad de Antioquia. We are grateful to Edgar Andres Estrada for his help with the maps, and Michael J. Boyle for revising the English version. Finally, we thank Elena Kupriyanova, Rolando Bastida-Zavala and Chris Glasby for the important comments and suggestions that improved this document.