Megabalanus coccopoma

Invasion History

First Galapagos Record: 1966

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General Invasion History:

Megabalanus coccopoma is native to the southeastern Pacific, ranging from Mexico to Peru. In the US, it was first reported from Louisiana in 2001 and its non-native range now extends throughout the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic coast of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Elsewhere in the world, introduced populations have been reported from Belgium, the Netherlands, West Africa, Japan, Australia and Brazil, and the Galapagos Islands. 

Invasion History in the Galapagos:

Megabalanus coccopoma was not found in 1964 barnacle surveys (Zullo 1991, cited by Carlton et al. 2019) but was collected on pilings on Baltra Island in 1966 (USNM 243980, US. National Museum of Natural History 2002; Carlton et al. 2011).

Invasion history elsewhere in the world:

In the 1970s, Megabalanus coccopoma was collected from buoys in Dutch waters, and misidentified as Balanus perforatus. In 1997–1999, it was found to be widespread on buoys in Belgian waters. Populations consisted of two or more generations, suggesting successful over-wintering and survival (Kerckhof and Cattrijsse 2001). Francis Kerckhof considers this species to be established in the southern North Sea (Kerckhof 2006, personal communication). In 2010, M. coccopoma was observed on fishing boats at Faraja, in the Gambia, West Africa, and was subsequently found growing on rocks along the shore, and in a private collection made in 2006 (Kerckhof et al. 2010). In Brazil, the first collection was from the Baia da Guanabara, near the city of Rio de Janeiro in 1974, and it currently ranges from the states of Espirito Santo to Rio Grande do Sul. In many locations in this range, it has become the dominant species, and appears to have partially replaced previously reported populations of M. tintinnabulum (Young 1994).

Megabalanus coccopoma was collected in 1994 in Australia, at Manly, near Sydney, New South Wales (Yamaguchi et al. 2009). It has been collected from a ship at Brisbane Queensland Neil et al. 2005, cited by Yamaguchi et al. 2009), and is established between Sydney and Newcastle, and in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria (Dafforn et al. 2009; Yamaguchi et al. 2009). In 2004, M. coccopoma was collected on the hull of a ship which travels between Kobe, Japan, and Australia. It is established in Japan from the south eastern coast from Kobe, on the Seto Inland Sea to Tokyo Bay, north to Ogatsu Bay, in Miyagi Prefecture (Yamaguchi et al. 2009). It has also been collected in New Zealand waters, on the floating wreckage of a fishing boat (Williams et al. 2008), and on an oil rig (Hopkins et al. 2011)—both in 2008. This barnacle was found to be established in many locations on the south eastern coast of Japan from Kobe, on the Seto Inland Sea to Tokyo Bay, north to Ogatsu Bay, in Miyagi Prefecture (Yamaguchi et al. 2009). In 2010, Megabalanus coccopoma was found on barges and buoys off Kwa Zulu, South Africa, on the Indian Ocean coast.  In 2019, it was found living at two locations on the Kwa Zulu coast (Pfaff et al. 2022).  Megabalanus coccopoma is regarded as introduced in the Galapagos Islands from the coast of South America, before the first barnacle surveys in the 1960s (Zullo 1991, cited by Carlton et al. 2019).

Description

Megabalanus coccopoma is a large barnacle, sometimes globular or cylindrical in shape and up to 50 mm in diameter. Its plates are slightly rough or finely ribbed. The orifice is moderately small, usually less than one-half the basal diameter, and it is subtriangular to subovate in shape. The scutum has a very broad, obtusely inflected tergal segment, and strong, closely set growth ridges. The margin along the aperture is strongly toothed, with longitudinal striae faint or absent. The articular ridge is four-fifths the length of the tergal margin, and the adductor ridge is strong and well-separated from the articular ridge. The tergum is moderately narrow, with a moderately long spur, separated by its own width or less from the basiscutal angle. Its growth ridges are faint to moderately strong, with an articular ridge approximately four-fifths the length of the scutal margin. The color is usually deep red, occasionally with fine white longitudinal lines or stripes. The radii are deep purple or reddish purple. The scutum is purple to reddish-purple, while the tergum is white (Pilsbry 1916; Ross 1962; Laguna 1985; Henry and McLaughlin 1986). Larval development of this species has been described and illustrated by Severno and Resgalla (2005). 
 
Megabalanus coccopoma could be potentially confused with M. californicus, M. peninsularis, or M. vinaceus in the northeastern Pacific (California-Panama), or with M. tintinnabulum or M. stultus in its introduced range in the northwestern Atlantic (Texas-Georgia) (Henry and McLaughlin 1986). 
 
A genetic analysis of Megabalanus spp. collected on the Gulf and southeastern coast of the US and Brazil concluded that most populations were M. coccopoma, although multiple lineages of this species were present. However, at least one cryptic species of Megabalanus was present (Cohen et al. 2014). 

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Taxonomy

Ecology

General:

Megabalanus coccopoma, like many other barnacles, is hermaphroditic, but is capable of cross-fertilization. The fertilized eggs are brooded in the mantle cavity, sometimes for several months, and are released as nauplius larvae with three pairs of appendages (Barnes 1983). The nauplii feed in the plankton and go through five successive molts, spending 6 to 20 days (about 3 weeks) in the water column (Severino and Resgalla 2005), before molting into a non-feeding cypris stage, covered with a pair of chitinous shells. Cyprids swim, investigating suitable surfaces, and then settle, secreting a shell and molting into the first juvenile barnacle stages. Juvenile and adult barnacles are filter feeders, sweeping the water with their long, bristled appendages that gather phytoplankton, zooplankton, and detritus (Barnes 1983). 
 
Megabalanus coccopoma prefers intertidal and shallow subtidal (less than 100 m depth) regions of marine waters. Newman and McConnaughey (1987) describe this species as an opportunist and highly gregarious, settling on disturbed or previously cleared substrates, especially manufactured structures such as buoys and boats. It is a common fouler of boats, ships, buoys, and other manufactured structures (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 1952; Newman and McConnaughey 1987; Kerckhof and Cattrijsse 2001). In Itapocoroy Bay, Brazil, it is an abundant fouler of aquaculture ropes and floats used in oyster and mussel culture (Severino and Resgalla 2005). It also frequently grows on mollusk shells (e.g., Pseudochama corrugata, Ross 1962; 'mussels', Young 1994). Henry and McLaughlin (1986) list one specimen from a Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae). 
 
The temperature range of this species is difficult to infer from its known occurrences. It occurred near San Diego, California during an El Niño year in 1985, and then in small numbers after that (three specimens, Newman and McConnaughey 1987), and failed to survive winter conditions in Louisiana (Perreault 2004) but has survived several winters on coastal buoys in Belgium (Kerckhof and Cattrijsse 2001; Kerckhof, personal communication). In Itapocoroy Bay, Brazil, it reproduces year-round at a temperature range of 17–30ºC (Severino and Resgalla 2005). 

Food:

Phytoplankton, zooplankton

Consumers:

Fishes, crabs, flatworms

Competitors:

Other fouling organisms

Trophic Status:

Suspension Feeder

SusFed

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Habitats

General Habitat	Marinas & Docks	None
General Habitat	Rocky	None
General Habitat	Vessel Hull	None
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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Life History

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Tolerances and Life History Parameters

Minimum Temperature (ºC)	4.7	Functional temperature, FT50, minimum temperature for 50% response. LT50 (50% lethal temperature was 2. 3 C) (Crickenberger 2014).
Minimum Salinity (‰)	26	Minimum salinity, annual cycle, Itapocoroy Bay, Brazil, Severino and Resgalla 2005
Maximum Salinity (‰)	38	Maximum salinity, annual cycle, Itapocoroy Bay, Brazil, Severino and Resgalla 2005
Minimum Dissolved Oxygen (mg/l)	7.5	Minimum dissolved oxygen, mg/ml, annual cycle, Itapocoroy Bay, Brazil, Severino and Resgalla 2005
Maximum Dissolved Oxygen	8.5	Maximum dissolved oxygen, mg/ml, annual cycle, Itapocoroy Bay, Brazil, Severino and Resgalla 2005
Minimum pH	5.5	Minimum pH, annual cycle, Itapocoroy Bay, Brazil, Severino and Resgalla 2005
Maximum pH	10.5	Minimum pH, annual cycle, Itapocoroy Bay, Brazil, Severino and Resgalla 2005
Minimum Reproductive Temperature	16	Experimental, nauplius-cypris-juvenile, animals from Fernandina FL, Crickenberger 2014; Crikcenberger et al. 2017.
Maximum Reproductive Temperature	30	Reproducing year-round, annual cycle, Itapocoroy Bay, Brazil, Severno and Resgalla 2005
Minimum Reproductive Salinity	26	Reproducing year-round, annual cycle, Itapocoroy Bay, Brazil, Severino and Resgalla 2005
Maximum Reproductive Salinity	38	Reproducing year-round, annual cycle, Itapocoroy Bay, Brazil, Severino and Resgalla 2005
Minimum Reproductive Dissolved Oxygen	7.5	Reproducing year-round, annual cycle, Itapocoroy Bay, Brazil, Severno and Resgalla 2005
Maximum Reproductive Dissolved Oxygen (mg/l)	8.5	Reproducing year-round, annual cycle, Itapocoroy Bay, Brazil, Severino and Resgalla 2005
Minimum Reproductive pH	5.5	Reproducing year-round, annual cycle, Itapocoroy Bay, Brazil, Severino and Resgalla 2005
Maximum Reproductive pH	10.5	Reproducing year-round, annual cycle, Itapocoroy Bay, Brazil, Severino and Resgalla 2005
Minimum Duration	5	22 C, experimental, Crickenberger 2014.
Maximum Duration	20	Larval duration, experimental, 20 C, Severino and Resgalla 2005
Maximum Height (mm)	50	Ross 1962
Broad Temperature Range	None	Warm temperate-tropical
Broad Salinity Range	None	Polyhaline-Euhaline

General Impacts

Economic Impacts

Megabalanus coccopoma is currently rare in US waters. However, within its native range, from Mexico to Peru, it is common fouler of boats, ships, buoys, and other manufactured structures (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 1953; Newman and McConnaughey 1987; Kerckhof and Cattrijsse 2001). 
 
Fisheries- In Itapocoroy Bay, Brazil, it is an abundant fouler of aquaculture ropes and floats used in oyster and mussel culture (Severno and Resgalla 2005). 
 
Ecological Impacts 

The ecological impacts of this barnacle’s invasion in Brazil have not been carefully studied. However, it appears to have largely replaced populations of M. tintinnabulum, reported in the 1920s–1940s (Young 1994). In experiments in Mosquito Lagoon, Florida, Megabalanus coccopoma located on fouling plates reduced the settlement of larvae of Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) but did not affect the growth of oyster spat (Yuan et al. 2016). 

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