Invasion

Invasion Description

1st Record: Cape May/NJ/Delaware Bay and 60 km off Winter Quarter/NJ/Atlantic Ocean (1931, Sears and Bigelow 1939, cited by Colton 1985)

Geographic Extent

VA/Chesapeake Bay (Van Engel, in Wass 1972); VA/Wachapreague Inlet (Van Engel, in Wass 1972); Cape May/NJ/Delaware Bay and 60 km off Winter Quarter/NJ/Atlantic Ocean (1931, Sears and Bigelow 1939, cited by Colton 1985); RI/Block Island Sound (1943-1949, Deevey 1950, cited by Colton 1985); Woods Hole/MA/Vineyard Sound-Buzzards Bay (1943- present, Lochead 1954); just west of Nantucket Shoals/MA/Atlantic Ocean (1980, Colton 1985); Georges Bank/Atlantic Ocean (1981, Colton 1985, 40 N, 66 W). Penilia avirostris has extended its range in well-sampled regions of the US East Coast, probably mostly due to climate change, but possibly with assistance from ballast water of cargo and fishing vessels (Colton 1985)