Symplegma brakenhielmi

Invasion History

First Non-native North American Tidal Record:
First Non-native West Coast Tidal Record:
First Non-native East/Gulf Coast Tidal Record:

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General Invasion History:

Symplegma brakenhielmi is widely distributed and its native region is unknown. Confusion with S. viride (Herdmann 1886) has added to uncertainty over its range.  It is widespread and cryptogenic in the tropical Atlantic and Indo-West Pacific.  It is considered introduced in Hawaii, Guam, the eastern Mediterranean, and the Eastern Pacific, including tropical Mexico, Pacific Panama, and the Galapagos Islands (Lambert 2002; Carlton and Eldredge 2009; Shenkar and Loya 2009; Moreno-Davila 2010; Carmen et al. 2011; Lambert 2019). 

North American Invasion History:

Invasion History Elsewhere in the World:

In the Eastern Pacific, Symplegma brakenhielmi was found at the mouth of the lagoon of Corralero, Oaxaca, Mexico, in 2009 (Moreno-Davila 2010). In the Indo-West Pacific, it is considered introduced in harbors in Guam (Lambert 2002; Lambert 2003). In the Mediterranean, S. brakenhielmi was probably first collected by Peres in 1958 but was identified as S. viride by Peres (1958) and Millar (1975, both cited by Shenkar and Loya 2009). It has also been found in Turkey, Cyprus, and Libya (Cinar et al. 2005; Ulman et al. 2017; Rizgalla et al. 2019) and in the Mediterranean (Shenkar and Loya 2009). 

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Description

Symplegma brakenhielmi is an encrusting colonial tunicate, growing as a loosely packed mass of oval zooids, embedded in a transparent tunic. The siphons are short, and apertures are oval, located on the dorsal surface. The branchial structure consists of four longitudinal vessels, with two complete vessels, and two not reaching the branchial sac, and two reaching the dorsal laminae. There nine rows of stigmata. Testis vesicles are lobed. Zooids are 2.5 to 4 mm long, colors vary from gray to green, or orange red. Some colonies have red pigment outlining the pharyngeal band (Van Name 1945, as S. viride; Kott 1985; Rodrigues and da Rocha 1993; Lambert 2019).

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Taxonomy

Ecology

General:

Life History- A colonial (or compound) tunicate consists of many zooids, bearing most or all the organs of a solitary tunicate but modified to varying degrees for colonial life. Colonial tunicates of have small zooids, usually not organized in systems, and fully embedded in a mass of tunic material. Each zooid has an oral siphon and an atrial canal, opening to a shared cloacal chamber. Water is pumped into the oral siphon, through finely meshed ciliated gills on the pharynx, where phytoplankton and detritus are filtered and passed on mucus strings to the stomach and intestines. Excess waste is expelled in the outgoing atrial water (Van Name 1945; Barnes 1983).

Colonial tunicates reproduce both asexually, by budding, and sexually, from fertilized eggs developing into larvae. Buds can form from the body wall of the zooid. Colonies vary in size and can range from small clusters of zooids to huge spreading masses. The zooids are hermaphroditic, with eggs and sperm being produced by a single individual. Eggs may be self-fertilized or fertilized by sperm from nearby animals, but many species have a partial block to self-fertilization. Eggs are internally fertilized, and embryos are incubated in a brood pouch. Once they are mature, fertilized eggs hatch into a tadpole larva with a muscular tail, notochord, eyespots, and a set of adhesive papillae. The lecithotrophic (non-feeding, yolk-dependent) larva swims briefly before settlement. Swimming periods are usually less than a day, and some larvae can settle immediately after release, but the larval period can be longer at lower temperatures. Once settled, the tail is absorbed, the gill basket expands, and the tunicate begins to feed by filtering (Van Name 1945; Barnes 1983).

Symplegma brakenhielmi ranges widely in warm-temperate to tropical waters at marine salinities. As a colonial tunicate, it is a suspension feeder, filtering out phytoplankton and detritus.

Food:

Phytoplankton

Trophic Status:

Suspension Feeder

SusFed

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Habitats

General Habitat

Marinas & Docks

None

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Life History

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Tolerances and Life History Parameters

Maximum Temperature (ºC)	28	Field, Capitania, Brazil (Marins et al. 2010)
Minimum Salinity (‰)	24	Field, Capitania, Brazil (Marins et al. 2010)
Maximum Salinity (‰)	32	Field, Capitania, Brazil (Marins et al. 2010)
Broad Temperature Range	None	Warm temperate-Tropical
Broad Salinity Range	None	Polyhaline-Euhaline

General Impacts

Symplegma spp. are common fouling organisms on buoys, floats, pilings, and panels, but has not been reported to have significant economic impacts (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 1985). Symplegma spp. occurred on cultured mussels in Brazil but were not considered to have negative impacts on bivalve culture (Rocha 2009). 

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Regional Impacts

NZ-IV	None		Ecological Impact	Competition
Overgrowing sponges and corals (Spyksma wt al. 2024)

References

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