Description

Taxonomy

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family	Genus
Animalia	Entoprocta (Kamptozoa)	None	Coloniales	Pedicellinidae	Loxosomatoides

Synonyms

Loxosomatoides japonicum

Invasion History

Chesapeake Bay Status

First Record	Population	Range	Introduction	Residency	Source Region	Native Region	Vectors
1994	Established	Expanding	Introduced	Regular Resident	Western Pacific	Western Pacific	Shipping(Fouling Community)

History of Spread

Loxosomatoides laevis kamptozoan (or entoproct ) was described from Chilka Lake, an estuary of the Bay of Bengal, India, in 1915, and found in Japan in 1951. All but one of the other members of the genus are confined to Asian waters; one South American species may belong to another genus (Wasson et al. 2000). It was not collected in early studies of entoprocts in the Chesapeake Bay (Osburn 1944) or other East Coast sites (Woods Hole MA, NC, SC) (Wasson et al. 2000).

Loxosomatoides laevis' only known occurrences outside the Indo-Pacific have been in Chesapeake Bay, where it was first identified on the Smithsonian Envrionmental Research Center Marine Invasions Program settling plates in 1994, in sites in upper and lower Chesapeake Bay. In 1994-1997, it was collected in the Chester River (MD), Baltimore Harbor; the Rhode River and West Rivers (MD); and Norfolk Harbor VA (Wasson et al. 2000).

History References- Osburn 1944; Wasson et al. 2000; Ruiz et al. unpublished data

Invasion Comments

Ecology

Environmental Tolerances

	For Survival		For Reproduction
	Minimum	Maximum	Minimum	Maximum
Temperature (ºC)		32.0
Salinity (‰)	5.0	28.0
Oxygen
pH
	Salinity Range	meso-poly

Age and Growth

	Male	Female
Minimum Adult Size (mm)	0.6	0.6
Typical Adult Size (mm)	0.8	0.8
Maximum Adult Size (mm)	1.0	1.0
Maximum Longevity (yrs)
Typical Longevity (yrs

Reproduction

	Start	Peak	End
Reproductive Season
Typical Number of Young Per Reproductive Event
Sexuality Mode(s)
Mode(s) of Asexual Reproduction
Fertilization Type(s)
More than One Reproduction Event per Year
Reproductive Startegy
Egg/Seed Form

Impacts

Economic Impacts in Chesapeake Bay

Although it is an abundant fouling organism in Chesapeake Bay, because of its small size, the kamptozoan Loxosomatoides laevis has no economic importance in the Chesapeake Bay region.

Economic Impacts Outside of Chesapeake Bay

Although it is an abundant fouling organism in Chesapeake Bay, because of its small size, the kamptozoan Loxosomatoides laevis has no economic importance in its known range.

Ecological Impacts on Chesapeake Native Species

Effects of Loxosomatoides laevis on native biota are unknown for Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere. However, it is striking that during the SERC Invasions Group settling plate surveys, none of the native entoproct species reported by Osburn (1944) from the Bay were found. Many of his collections were made in Atlantic Coastal bays, where setling plates have not been deployed. However, it is possible that the native species have been replaced by the introduced entoprocts.

References- Ruiz et al. unpublished; Wasson 1997; Wasson et al. 2000

Ecological Impacts on Other Chesapeake Non-Native Species

Effects of Loxosomatoides laevis on introduced biota are unknown for Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere.

References

Barnes, Robert D. (1983) Invertebrate Zoology., , Philadelphia. Pp. 883

Cohen, Andrew N.; Carlton, James T. (1995) Nonindigenous aquatic species in a United States estuary: a case study of the biological invasions of the San Francisco Bay and Delta, , Washington DC, Silver Spring MD.. Pp.

Osburn, Raymond C. (1944) A survey of the Bryozoa of Chesapeake Bay, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory Publications 63: 1-55

Wasson, Kerstin (1997) Systematic revision of colonial kamptozoans (entoprocts) of the Pacific coast of North America, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 121: 1-63

Wasson, Kerstin; Toft, Jason; Von Holle, Betsy; Ruiz, Gregory (2000) Detecting invasions of marine organisms: kamptozoan case histories., Biological Invasions 2: 59-74

Loxosomatoides laevis

Entoprocts