Invasion History

First Non-native North American Tidal Record: 1989
First Non-native West Coast Tidal Record: 1989
First Non-native East/Gulf Coast Tidal Record:

General Invasion History:

Laonome cf. calida was described from the Calliope River, Queensland, Australia (Capa 2007). In Australia, it has been found in open-water marine environments in the Dampier Archipelago, Western Australia, but also in brackish estuaries, with little or no tide, near Darwin (Northern Territory), and in Queensland (Capa 2007; Capa et al. 2014). In 1989, an unidentified sabellid was found in large numbers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and originally identified as Potamilla sp. Similar poychaetes were found in 2009 in fresh and brackish canals in the Netherlands, and identified as Laonome cf. calida (Capa et al. 2014). The San Francisco estuary population also appears to fit the description of L. cf. calida (Leslie Harris, personal communication, 3/27/15). One surprising aspect of these invasions, assuming that these populations are all L. cf. calida, is the successful adaptation of a tropical animal to a temperate habitat. Genetic studies of these populations would be useful for testing variation in species traits and identifications.

North American Invasion History:

Invasion History on the West Coast:

Laonome cf. calida, initially identified as Potamilla sp. was first collected in 1989 in Sherman Lake in the western Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Cohen and Carlton 1995). It has reached very high densities (up to 16000 m-2) at the confluence of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers, and has been found from inner tributaries of the Delta (Franks Tract, Old Rover) to San Pablo Bay (Cohen and Carlton 1995; Barnett et al. 2007). It was abundant at salinities of ~8 PSU and most abundant in wet years at a lower Sacramento River station, but during dry years it was most abundant at a freshwater station (Old River) (Peterson and Vayssieres 2010). It may be transported in ship fouling or ballast water (Hsieh et al. 2010) aboard commercial vessels. It has been found in fouling communities of retired ships moored in Suisun Bay (Llanso et al. 2011). On the West Coast, L. cf. calida has only been found in the San Francisco estuary.

Invasion History Elsewhere in the World:

In 2009-2012, an unidentified sabellid was found to be abundant at many sites in brackish and fresh canals and rivers in the Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt deltas of the Netherlands. These worms were found to fit the morphological characters of L. cf. calida (Capa 2007; Capa et al. 2014). They were found at salinities of 0 – 4.5 PSU, in silt and clay in canals, on stones, in fresh intertidal mudflats, and non-tidal freshwater riparian mudflats. The populations apparently survived winter water temperatures of 0-5°C (Capa et al. 2014).

In 2012, a population of sabellids of the genus Laonome was discovered in Parnu Bay, Estonia, on the Gulf of Riga, at a salinity of 3-5 PSU. These polychaetes appear to be a different, undescribed, and introduced species of Laonome (Kotta et al. 2015).


Description

Laonome cf. calida is a sabellid polychaete described from Queensland, Australia (Capa 2007). Populations of introduced sabellids in low-salinity waters of the San Francisco Bay estuary and brackish-to-fresh canals and rivers of the Netherlands show minor differences from Australian specimens (Capa et al. 2014; Leslie Harris, personal communication 2015). Further morphological and genetic studies will be needed to confirm the conspecific status of these populations. Another introduced population, in Parnu Bay, Estonia, on the Baltic Sea, appears to be a distinct, unidentified species (Kotta et al. 2015). Recent sutides indicate that all of the European specimens, from the Baltic and Azov Seas, and the Netherlands, are a distinct new species. Laonome xeprovala, disitnct from L. calida. sp. nov. (Bick et al. 2018).

Sabellid polychaetes are often called 'feather-duster worms' and are characterized by having a prostomium with the palps modified into a crown of feather-like radioles. The peristomium is modified into an anterior collar, into which the radioles can be withdrawn. The body has a short thoracic region (6-8 chaetigers) and a longer abdominal region, of a few-to-many chaetigers. A ciliated ventral groove runs from the ventral anus along the ventral side of the abdomen and then swings to the dorsal side of the thorax, continuing as a divide in the peristomial collar (Blake and Ruff 2007).

Laonome cf. calida has a branchial crown of 7 radioles on each of the two lobes, comprising about 1/3 of the body length. The body is cylindrical, tapering posteriorly, with 6-8 thoracic chaetigers and 14-31 abdominal chaetigers. The radioles form semicircles on the two lobes of the crown. The radioles lack eyespots, but are marked with 4-8 pigmented bands. The radioles lack lateral flanges at their bases, but are supported internally by 2 rows of vacuolated cells. The anterior edge of the collar is even in height, while the posterior edge of the collar forms two sub-triangular ventral lobes. The mid-ventral incision cuts through about half the length of the collar. The dorsal lips, on each side of the fecal groove, are rounded, and the lateral margins are smooth. 

The first thoracic chaetiger of Laonome cf. calida is separated from the collar by a fine groove, and bears two rows of narrow, hooded chaetae. The subsequent thoracic chaetigers have two rows of chaetae as well, an upper row with elongate, narrowly hooded chaetae, and a lower row of paleate (scale-like) chaetae. The thoracic chaetigers also bear rows of uncinae, short, deeply embedded chaetae, with one large tooth and several fine ones, and lacking a handle at the base. The abdominal chaetigers have broadly hooded neurochaetae and the unicini have 5 rows of 2-4 teeth above the main fang. The posterior 10-15 chaetigers are increasingly narrow, and may have a mid-ventral depression. The pygidium is conical, with a mid-ventral groove. Australian specimens were 10-29 mm long, while European worms were 9-15 mm (Capa 2007; Capa et al. 2014). The tube consists of a thin layer of mucus, with fine particles attached. Description based on: Norris 2006, Capa 2007, Barnett et al. 2011, and Capa et al. 2014. Laonome xeprovala differs from L. calida in having fewer thoracic chaetigers (fewer than 45, compared to ~87 in one L. c. specimen. Bick et al. 2018).


Taxonomy

Taxonomic Tree

Kingdom:   Animalia
Phylum:   Annelida
Class:   Polychaeta
Subclass:   Palpata
Order:   Canalipalpata
Suborder:   Sabellida
Family:   Sabellidae
Genus:   Laonome
Species:   cf. calida

Synonyms

Potamilla sp. (Cohen and Carlton, 1995)

Potentially Misidentified Species

Laonome kroyeri
Laonome kroyeri Malmgren, 1866 has a broad circumpolar distribution (Appeltans et al. 2017)

Ecology

General:

There is limited reported information on the ecology of this species. A related species, L. albicingillum, from estuarine habitats in Taiwan, is hermaphroditic, undergoes self-fertilization and has lecithotrophic, weakly-swimming, planktonic larvae. Larvae take 25-33 hours from fertilization to settlement (Hsieh 1995a; Hsieh 1995b; Hiseh et al. 2010).

Food:

Phytoplankton, detritus

Trophic Status:

Suspension Feeder

SusFed

Habitats

General HabitatUnstructured BottomNone
General HabitatVessel HullNone
General HabitatRockyNone
Salinity RangeOligohaline0.5-5 PSU
Salinity RangeMesohaline5-18 PSU
Salinity RangeLimnetic0-0.5 PSU
Tidal RangeSubtidalNone
Vertical HabitatEndobenthicNone
Vertical HabitatEpibenthicNone


Tolerances and Life History Parameters

Minimum Salinity (‰)0.1Field, Old River, San Joaquin Delta, Peterson and Vayssieres 2010
Maximum Salinity (‰)35Open marine sites, Dampier Archipelago (Capa et al. 2007).
Maximum Length (mm)15Capa et al. 2011
Broad Temperature RangeNoneCold temperate-Tropical
Broad Salinity RangeNoneLimnetic-Mesohaline

General Impacts

Laonome calida is a significant suspension feeder, responisble for ~7% of estimated phytoplankton grazing in Suisun Slough, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Jones et al. 2009).

Regional Impacts

NEP-VNorthern California to Mid Channel IslandsEcological ImpactHabitat Change
Mucus from the tubes of Laonome sp as well as the mucus produced by other native and introduced deposit feeding and tube-building benthos, contributes to a surface layer of flocculent fluff, which may trap much more phtyoplankton than that actually consumed by the animals (Jones et al. 2009).
P090San Francisco BayEcological ImpactHabitat Change
Mucus from the tubes of Laonome sp. as well as the mucus produced by other native and introduced deposit feeding and tube-building benthos, contributes to a surface layer of flocculent fluff, which may trap much more phtyoplankton than that actually consumed by the animals (Jones et al. 2009).
CACaliforniaEcological ImpactHabitat Change
Mucus from the tubes of Laonome sp as well as the mucus produced by other native and introduced deposit feeding and tube-building benthos, contributes to a surface layer of flocculent fluff, which may trap much more phtyoplankton than that actually consumed by the animals (Jones et al. 2009)., Mucus from the tubes of Laonome sp. as well as the mucus produced by other native and introduced deposit feeding and tube-building benthos, contributes to a surface layer of flocculent fluff, which may trap much more phtyoplankton than that actually consumed by the animals (Jones et al. 2009).

Regional Distribution Map

Bioregion Region Name Year Invasion Status Population Status
NEP-V Northern California to Mid Channel Islands 1989 Non-native Established
P090 San Francisco Bay 1989 Non-native Established

Occurrence Map

OCC_ID Author Year Date Locality Status Latitude Longitude
755726 Introduced Species Study 2005 2005-09-07 Railroad Bridge Non-native 37.4602 -121.9750
755727 Introduced Species Study 2005 2005-10-07 New York Point Marina Non-native 38.0400 -121.8863
755728 Introduced Species Study 2005 2005-10-19 Mare Island Strait - Marina Non-native 38.1051 -122.2667
755729 Introduced Species Study 2005 2005-10-19 Napa Valley Marina Non-native 38.2198 -122.3119
755730 Introduced Species Study 2005 2005-10-20 Petaluma River Turning Basin Non-native 38.2344 -122.6354
758964 Maloney et al. 2007 2005 2005-07-25 San Joaquin/ Turner Cut Confluence/Lost Isle Non-native 37.9982 -121.4511
758965 Maloney et al. 2007 2005 2005-07-27 Boyd's Harbor (Franks Tract) Non-native 38.0351 -121.6231
758966 Maloney et al. 2007 2005 2005-07-27 Driftwood Marina (Antioch)/San Joaquin River Non-native 38.0183 -121.7497
758967 Maloney et al. 2007 2005 2005-07-27 Dutch Slough/ Sand Mound Slough Confluence / Bethel Island Non-native 38.0125 -121.6378
758968 Maloney et al. 2007 2005 2005-08-11 Sac. Deep Water Channel I/Port of Sacramento Non-native 38.5623 -121.5473
758969 Maloney et al. 2007 2005 2005-08-23 Dos Reis (Just north of Mossdale, downstream of Old River) Non-native 37.8307 -121.3116
758970 Maloney et al. 2007 2005 2005-08-23 Mossdale Marina (at Mossdale on the San Joaquin) Non-native 37.7861 -121.3075
758971 Maloney et al. 2007 2005 2005-08-24 Discovery Bay / Indian Slough Non-native 37.9153 -121.5877
758972 Maloney et al. 2007 2005 2005-08-24 Federal Intake Non-native 37.8166 -121.5559

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