The ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi A. Agassiz 1865 in coastal waters of the Netherlands: an unrecognized invasion?

By M. Faasse, K. M. Bayha. 2006

149 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The introduction of the American ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi to the Black Sea was one of the most dramatic of all marine bioinvasions and, in combination with eutrophication and overfishing, resulted in a total reorganization of the pelagic food web and significant economic losses. Given the impacts this animal has exhibited in its invaded habitats, the spread of this ctenophore to additional regions has been a topic of much consternation. Here, we show the presence of this invader in estuaries along the Netherlands coast, based both on morphological observation and molecular evidence (nuclear internal transcribed spacer region 1 [ITS-1] sequence). Furthermore, we suggest the possibility that this ctenophore may have been present in Dutch waters for several years, having been misidentified as the morphologically similar Bolinopsis infundibulum. Given the level of shipping activity in nearby ports (e.g. Antwerp and Rotterdam), we find it likely that M. leidyi found its way to the Dutch coast in the ballast water of cargo ships, as is thought for Mnemiopsis in the Black and Caspian Seas. Given the magnitudes of the impacts this ctenophore has shown in its native and introduced ranges, the animal’s potential effects on the North Sea pelagic ecosystem and fisheries warrant close observation in the coming years. The development of large ctenophore aggregations during recent years was probably driven by the higher than average sea surface temperatures in the North Sea, and we hypothesize that populations from the southern North Sea may have been the source of the invaders reported in the Baltic Sea and the Skagerrak. If these northern populations (Baltic, etc.) are not able to over-winter, it is possible that established populations in southern North Sea estuaries may serve as a yearly supply of invaders to the colder waters to the north.

Subfields: Global and Planetary Change, Oceanography, Paleontology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bb0e995298a68c397fbf2303cd0e89e3f59cab23

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In Global and Planetary Change

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Citations in the corpus

Invasion dynamics of the alien ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi and its impact on anchovy collapse in the Black Sea (2008, background): “Finenko, G. A., Romanova, Z. A., Abolmasova, G. I. et al. (2006b) Ctenophores–invaders and their role in the trophic dynamics of the planktonic community in the coastal regions off the Crimean coasts of the Black sea (Sevastopol Bay).”
The presence of the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi in the Oslofjorden and considerations on the initial invasion pathways to the North and Baltic Seas (2007, background): “Along the Dutch coast, sole and plaice fisheries are also potentially threatened during high abundances of M. leidyi (Faasse and Bayha 2006).”
The first occurrence of the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi in the North Sea (2007, background): “of the Netherlands (Faasse and Bayha 2006) and of the Swedish coast (Hansson 2006).”
Multiple introductions and invasion pathways for the invasive ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi in Eurasia (2011, background): “leidyi along the Netherlands coast indicated very low variation at ITS1, with only one nucleotide difference among sequences (Faasse and Bayha 2006).”
Helgoland Roads, North Sea: 45 Years of Change (2010, background): “Changes in species composition within the genus Calanus (Helaouet and Beaugrand 2007) were observed, and the invasion of the ctenophore M. leidyi has been documented (Boersma et al. 2007; Faasse and Bayha 2006).”
Blooms of the invasive ctenophore, Mnemiopsis leidyi, span the Mediterranean Sea in 2009 (2010, methodology): “typical morphotype, namely that the lobes extended to the region of the statocyst (see Faasse & Bayha, 2006 ).”
First record of Mnemiopsis leidyi A. Agassiz 1865 in the Baltic Sea (2006, background): “Secondly, M. leidyi could have been transported into the Baltic by currents from the North Sea, where M. leidyi was observed earlier (Boersma et al. in press; Faasse and Bayha 2006, this issue; Hansson 2006, this issue).”
Environmental effects on asexual reproduction rates of the scyphozoan Aurelia labiata (2007, background): “Light plays a critical role in hormonal changes for plants and animals (e.g. Boeuf & Falcon 2001, Farnsworth 2004).”