Laomedea calceolifera

Invasion History

First Non-native Panama (Pacific) Tidal Record: 2008

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Panama Invasion History:

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Invasion history elsewhere in the world:

Laomedea calceolifera has been introduced to the Northwest Pacific, where it was first collected in Shandong, China in the Yellow Sea (Chen-sheng Kao, cited by Chalypigna 1992); and later found in Peter the Great Bay, in the vicinity of Vladivostok, Russia on docks and the hull of a boat (Chalypigna 1992). It has been found on a ship's hull in South Africa, but it is not established there (Millard 1975).

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Description

Laomedea calceolifera has fixed gonophores rather than a free medusa stage in its life cycle. It forms colonies up to 30 mm high, with erect stems arising from smooth, but twisting stolons. Branches are alternating left and right, and above each branching point are several rings. The hydrothecae are born on pedicels with multiple rings. They are deep and bell-shaped, with a smooth, distally flared margin. The male and female gonothecae are dissimilar when mature. The female gonothecae are club-shaped, with a sub-terminal curving aperture on one side. The male gonothecae are cylindrical, narrower than the female, and are elongate with a terminal aperture (description from: Bouillon et al. 2004; Vervoort 2006).

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Taxonomy

Ecology

General:

Laomedea calceolifera is a sessile hydrozoan which lacks a planktonic medusa stage. Colonies grow on a solid substrate, with polyps arising from a creeping stolon. The polyps form bushy structures, with many hydranths, whose tentacles capture zooplankton. The polyps produce gonophores, which produce either eggs or sperm. The egg develops into a ciliated non-feeding planula larva which is released into the water column (Bouillon et al. 2004; Vervoort 2006).

Planulae of L. calceolifera settle and grow on stones, seagrasses, seaweeds, docks, buoys, and pilings (Fraser 1944). It is also known from ships’ hulls and fouling plates (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 1952; Chalypigna 1992). Laomedea calceolifera grows in cold-temperate to subtropical climates, and in the Black and Mediterranean Sea (Bouillon et al. 2004) where salinities range from 18 to 38 PSU.

Food:

zoooplankton, epibenthos

Consumers:

Nudibranchs

Trophic Status:

Suspension Feeder

SusFed

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Habitats

General Habitat	Marinas & Docks	None
General Habitat	Vessel Hull	None
Salinity Range	Mesohaline	5-18 PSU
Salinity Range	Polyhaline	18-30 PSU
Salinity Range	Euhaline	30-40 PSU
Tidal Range	Subtidal	None
Vertical Habitat	Epibenthic	None

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Tolerances and Life History Parameters

Maximum Height (mm)	30	Hydroid height (Bouillon et al. 2004; Vervoort 2006)
Broad Temperature Range	None	Cold temperate-Subtropical
Broad Salinity Range	None	Polyhaline-Euhaline

General Impacts

The hydroid Laomedea calceolifera is a common and widespread ship and dock fouling organism, but specific impacts have not been reported.

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References

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Bouillon, Jean; Medel, Maria Dolores; Pagès, Francesc; Gili, Josep-Maria; Boero, Ferdinando ; Gravili, Cinzia (2004) Fauna of the Mediterranean Hydrozoa., Scientia Marina 68(suppl. 2): 5-438

Carlton, James T. (Ed.) (2007) The Light and Smith Manual: Intertidal Invertebrates from Central California to Oregon Fourth Edition, Completely Revised and Expanded, University of California Press, Berkeley. Pp. <missing location>

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MIT Sea Grant 2003-2008 Introduced and cryptogenic species of the North Atlantic. <missing URL>



Ruiz, Gregory M.; Geller, Jonathan (2018) Spatial and temporal analysis of marine invasions in California, Part II: Humboldt Bay, Marina del Re, Port Hueneme, and San Francisco Bay, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center & Moss Landing Laboratories, Edgewater MD, Moss Landing CA. Pp. <missing location>

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Vervoort, W. (2006) Leptolida (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) collected during the CANCAP and Mauritania-II expeditions of the National Museum of Natural History, Leiden, The Netherlands [Anthoathecata, various families of Leptothecata and addenda]., Zoologische Mededelingen 80-1(11): 181-318

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, United States Navy Dept. Bureau of Ships (1952) Marine fouling and its prevention., United States Naval Institute., Washington, D.C.. Pp. 165-206

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Zvyaginstev, A. Yu.; Radashevsky, V. I.; Ivin, V. V.; Kashin, I. A.; Gorodkov, A. N. (2011) Nonindigenous species in the far-eastern seas of Russia, Russian Journal of Biological Invasions 2(1): 164-182

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