Barentsia benedeni

History of Spread

The entoproct (or kamptozoan) Barentsia benedeni was described from Ostende, Belgium in 1887, but its origin is unknown. It was found to be widespread in European waters, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas, and later found on the coasts Japan of Japan, Australia, and the Pacific coast of North America (Nielsen 1989; Wasson 1997a). Because of this organism's small size, and the scarcity of people with taxonomic knowledge of this group, Barentsia benedeni is likely to be overlooked at many sites, and not recorded until long after its invasion.

On the U.S. Pacific coast, B. benedeni was first found in Lake Merritt, San Francsico Bay in 1929 (Cohen and Carlton 1995; Wasson 1997), and subsequently in Coos Bay OR in 1988 (Carlton 1989), and Puget Sound WA in 1998 (Cohen et al. 1998).

On the East Coast, Barentsia benedeni was collected in Vineyard Haven, Martha's Vineyard MA in 1977 (Jebram and Everitt 1982), and also reported from 'Cape Cod' (possibly referring to the Martha's Vineyard record) (Nielsen 1989). It was not collected in previous studies of entoprocts in the Chesapeake Bay (Osburn 1944) or other East Coast sites (Woods Hole MA, NC, SC) (Wasson et al. 2000).

In the Chesapeake Bay, B. benedeni was first identified on settling plates in 1994, in sites in upper and lower Chesapeake Bay. In 1994-1996, it was collected in Baltimore Harbor and the Severn River, in Mobjack Bay, and Norfolk harbor (Wasson et al. 2000).

History References- Jebram and Everitt 1982; Carlton 1989; Cohen and Carlton 1995; Wasson 1997a; Cohen et al. 1998; Wasson et al. 2000

Invasion Comments