Diadumene leucolena

Invasion History

First Non-native North American Tidal Record: 1936
First Non-native West Coast Tidal Record: 1936
First Non-native East/Gulf Coast Tidal Record:

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General Invasion History:

Diadumene leucolena is native to the East Coast of North America from Georgia, USA to New Brunswick, Canada (Gosner 1978; Casey 1997). It has been widely introduced with oysters and ship fouling to the West Coast of North America (Coos Bay, Oregon to Newport Bay, California; Carlton 1979), the Pacific Coast of Panama (Reimer 1976), Hawaii (Carlton and Eldredge 2009), Puerto Rico (Yale Peabody Museum 2008), Morocco, the Canary Islands, and Cameroon (Ocaña and Den Hartog 2002).

North American Invasion History:

Invasion History on the West Coast:

Diadumene leucolena was first collected in the Oakland estuary, San Francisco Bay, in 1936, but it may have been introduced with Eastern Oysters (Crassostrea virginica) much earlier. In San Francisco Bay, it is common to abundant in shallow waters in San Pablo, Central, and South Bays (Carlton 1979; Cohen and Carlton 1995; Cohen et al. 2005). It has been found in many other West Coast embayments, including (from North to South): Coos Bay (in 1967, Carlton 1979); Humboldt Bay (in 2000, Boyd et al. 2002); Elkhorn Slough (in 1998, Wasson et al. 2001); Marina del Rey, Santa Monica Bay (Reish 1972, cited by Carlton 1979); Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbors (in 1954, Reish 1959, cited by Carlton 1979); Alamitos, Anaheim, and Newport Bays (Reish 1972, cited by Carlton 1979). Two California records are from open coast locations: Anacapa Island (Channel Islands) (in 1977, USNM 73730, U.S. National Museum of Natural History 2008), and Enderts Beach, Crescent City (in 2003, Warburton 2005, in a sewage outfall).

Invasion History in Hawaii:

Diadumene leucolena may have been present near Honolulu, Oahu as early as the 1950s. It was found by Cuttress in 1977 (cited by Carlton and Eldredge 2009) in Pearl Harbor, Honolulu Harbor, and the Alai Wai Canal.

Invasion History Elsewhere in the World:

Diadumene leucolena was collected in 1962 from La Parguera, Puerto Rico (in 1962, YPM 7652, Yale Peabody Museum 2008). We do not know whether this anemone is established in Puerto Rico or elsewhere in the Caribbean. In the Eastern Atlantic, D. leucolena was found in tide pools at Fuerteventura, in the Canary Islands (in 1994, Ocaña and den Hartog 2002. 'only in mesolittoral pools'). It is also known from Cameroon (as Diadumene kameruniensis, Carlgren 1927, cited by Ocaña and den Hartog 2002), Morocco, and Senegal (Ocaña and den Hartog 2002). These records are most likely due to transport by ship fouling.

In the Pacific, D. leucolena was reportedly abundant in a rocky intertidal community at Paitilla Beach, Panama City, near the Pacific end of the Panama Canal (in 1972, Reimer 1976).

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Description

Diadumene leucolena has a column which appears smooth from a distance, but is studded with small dark bumps when looked at closely. When extended, the column of the polyp is 2-5X the width. Some specimens reach 38 mm in height and 12 mm in width. This anemone has acontia, threadlike structures, lined with cnidocytes (cells bearing nematocysts) which extend from the middle lobes of incomplete mesenteries, which partially divide the gastrovascular cavity. The acontia can be extended into the body cavity, or extruded through pores, as a defense in response to disturbance or handling. There are 40-60 tentacles, and there is a substantial tentacle-free zone around the mouth. The tentacles are long and slender when extended. This anemone is usually whitish and translucent, tinted with pale pink, orange, or olive (description from: Gosner 1978; Carlton 1979; Cohen and Carlton 1995; Fautin, in Carlton 2007).

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Taxonomy

Ecology

General:

Most sea anemones of the genus Diadumene can reproduce sexually by releasing eggs and sperm into the water, and asexually by longitudinal fission, or by a method called pedal laceration. In pedal laceration, as the anemone moves, a portion of its base is left behind, and grows into a new anemone (Barnes 1983). However, in D. leucolena, asexual reproduction appears to be rare or absent, at least in native populations in East Coast estuaries (Shick and Lamb 1977). Shick and Lamb (1977) suggest that the dominance of sexual reproduction and genetic variation helps the persistence of populations during highly variable conditions, which may completely wipe out clonal populations, such as those of the asexual D. lineata. Hand (1956) suggested that this was also true for West Coast D. leucolena, based on the regular arrangement of the mesenteries, which is disrupted during longitudinal fission.

This anemone is known from estuaries and sheltered waters, where it grows on oysters, rocks, seaweeds, pilings, and floats (Gosner 1978; Carlton 1979; Cohen and Carlton 1995; Casey 1997; Cohen 2005). It can also occur in sheltered tide pools, especially those receiving some freshwater inflow (Fofonoff, personal observations). It is especially tolerant of variable salinity and occurs at salinities as low as 6-7 PSU (Pierce and Minasian 1974; Shick and Lamb 1977; Gosner 1978; Casey 1997). Like other anemones, it feeds by trapping zooplankton and small epibenthic animals with its tentacles (Barnes 1983).

Food:

Zooplankton, small epibenthos

Trophic Status:

Carnivore

Carn

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Habitats

General Habitat	Coarse Woody Debris	None
General Habitat	Oyster Reef	None
General Habitat	Marinas & Docks	None
General Habitat	Rocky	None
Salinity Range	Mesohaline	5-18 PSU
Salinity Range	Polyhaline	18-30 PSU
Salinity Range	Euhaline	30-40 PSU
Tidal Range	Subtidal	None
Tidal Range	Low Intertidal	None
Vertical Habitat	Epibenthic	None

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Tolerances and Life History Parameters

Minimum Temperature (ºC)	0	None
Minimum Salinity (‰)	7	Field observations, Pettaquamscutt River RI, Paul Fofonoff, personal observation
Maximum Salinity (‰)	33	None
Minimum Duration	5	Planula larvae were planktonic for at 'least 5 days' at 17.5 C and 25 PSU (Shick and Lamb 1977).
Broad Temperature Range	None	Cold temperate-Tropical
Broad Salinity Range	None	Mesohaline-Euhaline

General Impacts

Diadumene leucolena has no reported impacts in its introduced range.

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References

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