Invasion History

First Non-native Panama (Pacific) Tidal Record: 2013
First Non-native Panama (Caribbean) Tidal Record: 1935

Panama Invasion History:


Invasion history elsewhere in the world:

Carijoa riisei has an early invasion history in the Caribbean and Western South Atlantic (Concepcion et al. 2010). It was first described from the Virgin Islands in 1860 (Deichmann 1936). In Brazil, it was collected in Rio de Janeiro Bay before 1867 (Müller 1867, as C. rupicola, DeVictor and Morton 2010) and Bahia in 1876 (USNM 50377, U.S. National Museum of Natural History 2014). It was collected in Kingston, Jamaica in 1885 (USNM 7541, U.S. National Museum of Natural History 2014). The coral is abundant in shallow coastal waters throughout the Caribbean, and south to Florianopolis, Brazil (Lira et al. 2009; Castro et al. 2010; Barbosa et al. 2014). It has also been collected in depths up to 309 and 508 m (Castro et al. 2010; DeVictor and Morton 2010). Carijoa riisei has also been collected off western Africa, on the island of Sao Tome (Concepcion et al. 2010), and on oil platforms off Gabon  (Friedlander et al. 2014).

Carijoa riisei appears to be a recent invader on reefs, on the Pacific coast of Colombia, where it was first noticed by divers around 2000 at Ensenada de Utría, Punta, and on Isla Malpelo. This coral seems to be rapidly overgrowing and replacing native octocorals (Sanchez et al. 2014). Genetic studies indicate that this population is closely related to introduced populations in the Caribbean, possibly transported through the Panama Canal (Quintanilla et al. 2017). It has been found  on fouling plates on Cocos Island, Costa Rica (Ruiz et al.  2021, unpublished).

Owing to its reported Caribbean origin, C. riisei has been reported as an invader in Indonesia (Calcinai et al. 2004) and India. Indian locations include the Andaman Islands (Divya et al. 2012), the Gulf of Mannar (Padmakumar et al. 2011), and the Gulf of Kutch (Yogesh Kumar et al. 2014). Local range extensions are possible within the Indo-Pacific range, but these records may result from collecting in poorly studied areas.


Description

Carijoa riisei is a soft coral belonging to the subclass Octocorallia. As the name of the subclass suggests, the polyps have eight pinnate tentacles and eight complete mesenteries, dividing their gastrovascular cavities. The polyps grow in a colony connected by a mass of tissue called coenenchyme, which consists of mesoglea, perforated by gastrodermal tubes which connect the polyps' interiors. The mesoglea contains calcareous skeletal particles, called sclerites, which form an internal skeleton for the colony (Barnes 1983, DeVictor and Morton 2010). Colonies of C. riisei grow by monopodial branching from a single axial zooid, in which the branches arise from a single stem, which progressively lengthens. Colonies may be as much as 355 mm high. The colonies are connected by creeping stolons, which give rise to new colonies. The stem is smooth near its base, but in its upper ridges has eight longitudinal ridges. The colonies are bushy and densely branched. Zooids sometimes arise in pairs from a branch, or may be spiral, with four zooids in each turn (Deichmann 1936; Bayer 1981; Castro et al. 2010; DeVictor and Morton 2010; Barbosa et al. 2014). Polyps are cylindrical, and the external portion (anthocodium) can fully retract into the portion of polyp (anthostele) which is embedded in the coenenchyme. The sclerites are stick-like in form, often branching, with thorny projections, and often occur in tangled masses. The polyps are white, while the branches vary from white to orange or reddish brown (Deichmann 1936; Bayer 1981; Castro et al. 2010; DeVictor and Morton 2010).

Concepcion et al. (2008; 2010) treat most of the Carijoa specimens in their genetic analysis as C. riisei, although they have excluded a transparent morph found in Hawaii, as possibly a cryptic species. However, they acknowledge that the taxonomy of this coral is unresolved.


Taxonomy

Taxonomic Tree

Kingdom:   Animalia
Phylum:   Cnidaria
Class:   Anthozoa
Subclass:   Octocorallia
Order:   Alcyonacea
Suborder:   Stolonifera
Family:   Clavulariidae
Genus:   Carijoa
Species:   riisei

Synonyms

Clavularia riisei (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1860)
Telesto riisei (Laackmann, 1908)
Carijoa rupicola (Müller, 1867)
Telesto rupicola (Laackmann, 1909)
(, )

Potentially Misidentified Species

Carijoa sp.
A 'transparent morph' of Carijoa sp. was found at Port Allen, Kauai, Hawaii. It may represent a cryptic species (Concepcion et al. 2008).

Ecology

General:

Carijoa riisei is known from a variety of tropical and subtropical marine habitats over a wide depth range. Its range of habitats include rocky offshore reefs, coral reefs, caves, crevices, mangrove roots, and from docks, piers, offshore oil platforms, and ship hulls (Carlton and Eldredge 2009; Lira et al. 2009; Friedlander et al. 2013; Barbosa et al. 2014; U.S. National Museum of Natural History 2014). It can occur from the low tide line to 700 m depth. It has been collected in warm-temperate habitats off Georgia and South Carolina, but at depths of 30-35 m (DeVictor and Morton 2010), where the Gulf Stream may moderate winter temperatures. In deep water off Maui, C. riisei appeared to be limited by an isotherm of 22°C (Kahng and Grigg 2005). Precise salinity tolerances are not known, but this coral survived only two days at 25 PSU, and was killed within minutes by fresh water (Toonen et al. 2007). This coral is often found in turbid waters with swift currents. The polyps feed by extending their tentacles in the current and trapping particles. In Brazil, 88% of the ingested biomass was phytoplankton, mostly cyanobacteria and diatoms, while 7% was zooplankton, and 5% was unidentified (Lira et al. 2009). Two specialized predators, the nudibranchs Phyllodesmium poindimiei and Tritoniopsis elegans, native to the Indo-West Pacific, appeared in the Hawaiian Islands in 2005 (Carlton and Eldredge 2009; Wagner et al. 2009). Phyllodesmium poindimiei appears to feed on this coral exclusively, while T. elegans is a generalist (Wagner et al. 2007; Carlton and Eldredge 2009; Wagner et al. 2009). Otherwise, C. riisei appears to have few predators in Hawaiian or Atlantic waters (Concepcion et al. 2010).

Food:

Phytoplankton, zooplankton

Consumers:

Phyllodesmium poindimiei (nudibranch)

Trophic Status:

Suspension Feeder

SusFed

Habitats

General HabitatOyster ReefNone
General HabitatMarinas & DocksNone
General HabitatRockyNone
General HabitatCoral reefNone
General HabitatVessel HullNone
Salinity RangeEuhaline30-40 PSU
Tidal RangeSubtidalNone
Vertical HabitatEpibenthicNone

Life History

Carijoa riisei colonies, like those of other octocorals, produce new polyps though asexual reproduction. Unlike scleractinian corals, the polyps in a colony are gonochoristic, almost all of a single sex, either male or female. Hermaphroditic colonies comprised 1.3% of specimens examined in Hawaii. Hermaphrodites may represent colonies in the process of changing sex (Kahng et al. 2008). Colonies first start producing sperm or oocytes at 25–54 cm height (Kahng et al. 2008; Barbosa et al. 2014). Female polyps in Brazil produced a mean of 3.5 oocytes per polyp, while Hawaiian polyps produced 7.4. Sexual reproduction in both locations is continuous throughout the year. Fertilized eggs produce planula larvae, which are not brooded. The duration of the planular stage and the potential for dispersal is not known (Kahng et al. 2008; Concepcion et al. 2010). In Pacific Panama, numbers and size of eggs increased during the upwelling season (Quintero-Arrieta et al. 2023).


Tolerances and Life History Parameters

Minimum Temperature (ºC)23Field, based on depth distribution off Maui (Kahng and Grigg 2005)
Minimum Reproductive TemperatureNoneSubtropical-Tropical
Broad Salinity RangeNoneEuhaline

General Impacts

Carijoa riisei has long been regarded as a native species in the Western Atlantic, so its impacts on native corals or other reef and fouling community inhabitants have not been studied. In Hawaii, it was initially regarded as a relatively benign fouling organism, often in disturbed harbors and bays (Coles and Eldredge 2002; Carlton and Eldredge 2009). However, its invasion of a deep-water bed of Black Coral (Antipathes dichotoma and A. grandis) at 30–110 m depth, off Hawaii, resulted in extensive mortality of the native species. This invasion had both ecological and economic implications, since the Black Coral is commercially harvested for jewelry (Grigg et al. 2005; Kahng and Grigg 2005).  However, on shipwrecks off Pernambuco, Brazil, formed extensive three-dimensional structures which greatly increased the diversity  and abundance of epibenthic fauna., and so is considered an ecosystem engineer (Feitosa de Padua et al. 2023).  Carijoa riisei  is considered a serious competitor to native corals in Pacific Panama (Quintero-Arrieta et al. 2022).


Regional Distribution Map

Bioregion Region Name Year Invasion Status Population Status
PAN_CAR Panama Caribbean Coast 1966 Def Estab

Occurrence Map

OCC_ID Author Year Date Locality Status Latitude Longitude

References

Feitosa de Padua, Stella Maris; Botter-Carvalho. Monica Lucia; Gomes. Paula Braga; Silva de Oliveira, Camilla; Pacheco dos Santos. Jose´ Carlos; Pe (2022) The alien octocoral Carijoa riisei is a biogenic substrate multiplier in artificial Brazilian shipwrecks, Aquatic Ecology 56: 183–200
doi.org/10.1007/s10452-021-09908-8

Baker, H. R. (1984) Diversity and zoogeography of marine Tubificidae (Annelida, Oligochaeta), with notes on variation in widespread species, Hydrobiologia 115: 191-196

Barbosa, Taciana Martins and 6 authors (2014) Comparisons of sexual reproduction in Carijoa riisei (Cnidaria, Alcyonacea) in South Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific areas, Hydrobiologia 734: 201-212

Bayer, Frederick (1981) Key to the genera of Octocorallia exclusive of Pennatulacea (Coelenterata: Anthozoa), with dagnoses of new taxa, Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 94(3): 902-947

Calcinai, B.; Bavestrello, G.; Cerrano, C. (2004) Dispersal and association of two alien species in the Indonesian coral reefs: the octocoral Carijoa riisei and the demosponge Demapsamma anchorata, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 84: 937-941

Cárdenas-Calle, Maritsa and 11 authors (2021) Invasion and current distribution of the octocoral Carijoa riisei (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1860) in the Ecuadorian coast (Eastern Tropical Pacific), Biological Invasions 16(1): 62-76

Carlton, James T.; Eldredge, Lucius (2009) Marine bioinvasions of Hawaii: The introduced and cryptogenic marine and estuarine animals and plants of the Hawaiian archipelago., Bishop Museum Bulletin in Cultural and Environmental Studies 4: 1-202

Coles S. L., DeFelice R. C., Eldredge, L. G. (1999a) Nonindigenous marine species introductions in the harbors of the south and west shores of Oahu, Hawaii., Bishop Museum Technical Report 15: 1-212

Coles S. L., DeFelice R. C., Eldredge, L. G. (2002b) Nonindigenous marine species at Waikîkî and Hawai`i kai, Oahu, Hawai`i, Bishop Museum Technical Report 25: 1-255

Coles, S. L. ; Kandel, F. L. M.;Reath, P. A.; Longenecker, K.; Eldredge, L. G. (2006) Rapid assessment of nonindigenous marine species on coral reefs in the main Hawaiian islands., Pacific Science 60(4): 483-507

Coles, S. L.; DeFelice, R. C. : Eldredge, L. G. (2002a) Nonindigenous marine species in Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawai`i, Bishop Museum Technical Report 24: 1-364

Coles, S. L.; DeFelice, R. C.; Eldredge, L. G.; Carlton, J. T. (1999b) Historical and recent introductions of non-indigenous marine species into Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaiian Islands., Marine Biology 135(1): 147-158

Coles, S. L.; Eldredge, L. G. (2002) Nonindigenous species introductions on coral reefs: a need for information., Pacific Science 56(2): 191-209

Coles, S. L.; Eldredge, L. G.; Kandel, F.; Reath, P. R.; Longenecker, K. (2004) <missing title>, Bishop Museum, Hawai‘i Biological Survey, Honolulu. Pp. <missing location>

Coles, S. L.; Reath, P. R.; Longenecker, K.; Bolick, Holly; Eldredge, L. G. (2004) <missing title>, Hawai‘i Community Foundation and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Honolulu. Pp. 1-187

Concepcion, G. T.; Crepeau, M. W.; Wagner, D.; Kahng, S. E.; Toonen, R. J. (2008) An alternative to ITS, a hypervariable, single-copy nuclear intron in corals, and its use in detecting cryptic species within the octocoral genus Carijoa, Coral Reefs 27: 323-336

Concepcion, G. T.; Kahng, S. E.; Crepeau, M. W.; Franklin, E. C.; Coles, S. L.; Toonen, R. J. (2010) Resolving natural ranges and marine invasions in a globally distributed octocoral (genus Carijoa), Marine Ecological Progress Series 401: 113-127

Deichmann, Elisabeth (1936) The Alcyonaria of the western part of the Atlantic Ocean, Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 53: 1-317

DeVictor, Susan T.; Morton, Steve L. (2010) Identification guide to the shallow water (0-200 m) octocorals of the South Atlantic Bight, Zootaxa 2599: 1-62

Florida Museum of Natural History 2009-2013 Invertebrate Zoology Master Database. <missing URL>



Friedlander, Alan M.; Ballesteros, Enric; Fay, Michael; Sala, Enric (2014) Marine communities on oil platforms in Gabon, West Africa: high biodiversity oases in a low biodiversity environment, PLOS ONE 9(8): e103709

Gestoso, Ignacio; Ramalhosa, Patrício; Canning-Clode, João (2018) Biotic effects during the settlement process of non-indigenous species in marine benthic communities, Aquatic Invasions 13: In press

Grigg, R. W. (2003) Invasion of a deep black coral bed by an alien species, Carijoa riisei, off Maui, Hawaii,, Coral Reefs 22: 121-122

Grigg, Richard W. (2004) Harvesting impacts and invasion by an alien species decrease estimates of black coral yield off Maui, Hawaii., Pacific Science 58(1): 1-6

Hoeksema; Bert W.; Samimi-Namin, Kaveh McFadden, Catherine S. ; Rocha, Rosana M.; van Ofwegen, Leen P. ; Hiemstra,, Auke-Florian; Vermeij. Mark J. A. (2023) Non-native coral species dominate the fouling community on a semi-submersible platform in the southern Caribbean, Marine Pollution Bulletin 194(115353): Published online

Ignacio, Barbara L.; Julio, Luciana M.; Junqueira, Andrea O. R; Ferreira-Silva, Maria A. G. (2010) Bioinvasion in a Brazilian Bay: filling gaps in the knowledge of southwestern Atlantic biota, PLOS ONE 5(9): <missing location>

Kahng, Samuel E.; Benayahu, Yehuda; Wagner, Daniel; Rothe, Nina (2008) Sexual reproduction in the invasive octocoral Carijoa riisei in Hawaii, Bulletin of Marine Science 82(1): 1-17

Kahng, Samuel E.; Grigg, Richard W. (2005) Impact of an alien octocoral, Carijoa riisei, on black corals in Hawaii, Coral Reefs 24: 556-562

Li, J. (1986) Sponges as marine fouling organisms in China waters.I., Studia Marina Sinica 26(2): 76-116

Lira, Ana K. F.; Naud, Jean-Philippe; Gomes, Paula B.; Santos; Andre M.; Perez, Carlos D. (2009) Trophic ecology of the octocoral Carijoa riisei from littoral of Pernambuco, Brazil. I. Composition and spatio-temporal variation of the diet, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 89(3): 89-99

Mook, David (1983) Indian River fouling organisms, a review, Florida Scientist 26(3/4): 162-167

Patro, Shesdev; Krishnan, P.; Gopi, M.; Raja, S.; Sreeraj, C. R.; Ramachandran, Purvaja; Ramesh, R. (2015) Snowflake coral, Carijoa riisei from Grand Island, Goa: a case of invasion of an alien species or re-establishment of a native species?, Current Science 109(6): 1038-1030

Quintanilla-Arrieta,Helio; Gomez, Catalina (2022) Reproduction of Carijoa riisei (Cnidaria: Octocorallia) in the Panamanian tropical eastern Pacific, Bulletin of Marine Science 99(4): 401–426
https://doi.org/10.5343/bms.2022.0011

Rocha, Rosana M and 11 authors (2013) The need of more rigorous assessments of marine species introductions: A counter example from the Brazilian coast, Marine Pollution Bulletin published online: <missing location>

Ruiz, Gregory M.; Geller, Jonathan (2018) Spatial and temporal analysis of marine invasions in California, Part II: Humboldt Bay, Marina del Re, Port Hueneme, and San Francisco Bay, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center & Moss Landing Laboratories, Edgewater MD, Moss Landing CA. Pp. <missing location>

Soors, Jan; Faasse, Marco; Stevens, Maarten; Verbessem, Ingrid; De Regge, Nico;Van den Bergh, Ericia (2010) New crustacean invaders in the Schelde estuary (Belgium), Belgian Journal of Zoology 140: 3-10

Tavares, M. R.; .Franco, A. C. S. ; . Ventura, C. R. R.; .Santos, L. N. (2021) Geographic distribution of Ophiothela brittle stars (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea): substrate use plasticity and implications for the silent invasion of O. mirabilis in the Atlantic, Hydrobiologia 848: 2093-2103

The Federal Register 8/13/2008 Fisheries in the Western Pacific; precious corals Fisheries; Black Coral quota and Gold Coral moratorium. <missing URL>



Toonen, Rob; Concepcion, Greg; Crepeau, Marc; Kahng, Sam, Wagner, Daniel (2007) <missing title>, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, Coconut Island HI. Pp. 1-5

U.S. National Museum of Natural History 2002-2021 Invertebrate Zoology Collections Database. http://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/iz/



Wagner, D.; Kahng, S. E.; Toonen, R. J. (2007) New report of nudibranch predators of the invasive octocoral Carijoa riisei in the Main Hawaiian Islands, Coral Reefs 26: 411

Wagner, Daniel; Kahng, Samuel E.; Toonen, Robert J. (2009) Observations on the life history and feeding ecology of a specialized nudibranch predator (Phyllodesmium poindimiei), with implications for biocontrol of an invasive octocoral (Carijoa riisei) in Hawaii, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 472: 64-74

WoRMS Editorial Board (2021). 2021 World Register of Marine Species. https://www.marinespecies.org/



Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History 2008-2016 YPM Invertebrate Zoology - Online Catalog. <missing URL>



Yogesh Kumar, J. S.; Geetha,S.; Satyanarayana, Ch.; Venkataraman, K.; Kambo, R. D. (2014) New species of soft corals (Octocorallia) on the reef of Marine National Park, Gulf of Kachchh, Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biological Research 2(1): 50-55