Species Regional Summary
Mercenaria mercenaria
Pt. Conception to Southern Baja California ( NEP-VI )

Invasion History Vectors Impacts References

Invasion

Invasion Description

1st record: Long Beach/CA/Colorado Lagoon, Alamitos Bay (stocked 1951, established, Selchak and Hass 1971, cited by Carlton 1979; Crane et al. 1975)

Geographic Extent

Newport Beach/CA/Newport Bay (1940, Carlton 1979); Long Beach/CA/Colorado Lagoon, Alamitos Bay (stocked 1951, established, Selchak and Hass 1971, cited by Carlton 1979; Crane et al. 1975); population decline, near extinction in 2009, Burnaford et al. 2011); Catalina Island/CA/Catalina Harbor (1959, failed, Carlton 1979); Vacation Isle, San Diego/CA/Mission Bay (1991, Hertz and Hertz 1992, 1 specimen, chipped shell, as if dropped by a bird?)

Vectors

Level Vector
Probable Fisheries Intentional

Regional Impacts

Ecological ImpactHerbivory
The large biomass of M. mercenaria in the Colorado Lagoon appears to have had a substantial impact on phytoplankton populations in 1980, although Murphy and Kremer (1985) did not measure grazing directly. However, their metabolic measurements indicate that M. mercenaria was responsible for more than 50% of the oxygen consumption and ammonium release of the benthic community (Murphy and Kremer 1985). However, those impacts are now minimal, because of the near-extinction of the population (Burnaford et al. 2011).
 

References

Full Reference List for Mercenaria mercenaria

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