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Invasion History
First Non-native North American Tidal Record: 1951First Non-native West Coast Tidal Record: 1951
First Non-native East/Gulf Coast Tidal Record:
General Invasion History:
Conopeum tenuissimum is an encrusting bryozoan occurring on docks, pilings, breakwaters, oysters, seagrasses, and other surfaces in estuarine habitats. It is native to the Northwestern Atlantic, where it occurs from Great Bay, New Hampshire and Boston Harbor to the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela (Osburn 1944; Maturo 1958; Wass 1972; Dudley 1973; Winston 1977; Winston 1982; MIT Sea Grant 2003; Ruiz et al., unpublished data).
North American Invasion History:
Invasion History on the West Coast:
Conopeum tenuissimum was first identified from San Francisco Bay by Patricia L. Cook based on material collected in the estuarine Lake Merritt, Oakland, California (Carlton 1979; Cohen and Carlton 1995) in 1962 (J.T. Carlton, personal communication, 2013). It is likely that earlier records of brackish water Conopeum in the Bay, such as that of Filice (1959, as Conopeum commensale) are C. tenuissimum. It was probably introduced in the 19th century with oysters from the East Coast (Carlton 1979). It ranges from the central Bay (Oakland and the Presidio Yacht Club) to Carquinez Straits, at the head of San Pablo Bay, and well into brackish waters on the Petaluma River (Cohen and Chapman 2005; Cohen et al. 2005).
This bryozoan is also established in Elkhorn Slough, where it was found during a 1998 survey (Wasson et al. 2001). A bryozoan identified as ‘possibly C. tenuissimum’ was found in 'marinas around the bay' in Humboldt Bay in 2000 (Boyd et al. 2002). In Coos Bay, Oregon, C. tenuissimum was first collected in 1970, and is now common in the estuary (Carlton 1989; de Rivera et al. 2005).
Invasion History Elsewhere in the World:
Conopeum tenuissimum is established in estuaries in Nigeria and Ghana, in West Africa (Cook 1968; Cook 1985) and in Port Hacking, in Sydney Harbor, Australia (Vail and Wass 1981; Australian Museum Business Services 2002).
Description
Colonies of Conopeum tenuissimum form lacy white crusts on seagrasses, oysters, docks, pilings, breakwaters and other hard substrates. Sometimes colonies are pink or tan, due to food in the intestine or sediment caught in the spines. Colonies vary greatly in size and shape depending on the type of substratum. Zooids are typically 530 µm X 250 µm, and elongate-oval in shape. There is a single pair of spines at the distal end of the zooid, and 5-7 pairs of lateral spines. The polyps have ~11-15 tentacles. The budding pattern in Florida populations is that the ancestrula produces one distal primary bud, followed by proximal secondary buds, so that the colony initially develops a 'double-fan' pattern spreading from the two ends of the ancestrula. This eventually develops into a circular pattern as the colony grows. Compared to specimens from Florida identified as C. seurati, C. tenuissimum has larger zooids, and a more regular colony arrangement, heavier calcification, and more lateral spines (description from: Osburn 1944; Winston 1982; Winston and Hayward 2012). Conopeum is a difficult genus, and identifications of C. tenuissimum are frequently somewhat tentative (Cohen and Carlton 1995, Linda McCann, personal communication, 2011).
Taxonomy
Taxonomic Tree
| Kingdom: | Animalia | |
| Phylum: | Bryozoa | |
| Class: | Gymnolaemata | |
| Order: | Cheilostomata | |
| Suborder: | Anasca | |
| Family: | Membraniporidae | |
| Genus: | Conopeum | |
| Species: | tenuissimum |
Synonyms
Membranipora tenuissima (Canu, 1908)
Potentially Misidentified Species
NW Atlantic species, introduced to San Francisco Bay.
Conopeum commensale
Early (1950s) records (Filice 1959; Aldrich 1961, ciited by Carlton 1979) of 'C. commensale' probably refer to C. tenusissimun. Conopeum commensale is a widespread tropical species (Cohen and Carlton 1995).
Conopeum osburni
NE Pacific genus
Conopeum seurati
NE Atlantic species
Electra crustulenta
Misidentification in guide for Chesapeake Bay species, as Membranipora crustulenta (Osburn 1944)
Ecology
General:
Life History- Conopeum tenuissimum is an encrusting, calcified bryozoan colony composed of many individual zooids. The zooids feed by extending the ciliated tentacles of the lophophore as a funnel, creating a current, and driving food particles into their mouths. The food is guided along the tentacles and through the pharynx by the cilia. Larger food particles can be moved or captured by flicking or contracting the tentacles (Barnes 1983). Larvae of C. tenuissimum are planktotrophic, but probably have a shorter planktonic period than Membranipora spp. (Dudley 1973; Winston and Hayward 2012). Larvae settle on a substrate and metamorphose into the first zooid of a colony, an ancestrula (Dudley 1973; Barnes 1983).
Ecology- Conopeum tenuissimum is common in brackish water (Osburn 1944) and is known from eelgrass beds, oyster beds, pilings, shells and pebbles (Osburn 1944; Dudley 1973; Winston 1982).
Food:
Phytoplankton
Trophic Status:
Suspension Feeder
SusFedHabitats
| General Habitat | Coarse Woody Debris | None |
| General Habitat | Grass Bed | None |
| General Habitat | Oyster Reef | None |
| General Habitat | Marinas & Docks | None |
| General Habitat | Rocky | None |
| Salinity Range | Mesohaline | 5-18 PSU |
| 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 |
Tolerances and Life History Parameters
| Minimum Salinity (‰) | 6 | Field data (Osburn 1944) |
| Maximum Salinity (‰) | 37 | Field data (Cook 1985) |
| Broad Temperature Range | None | Cold temperate-Tropical |
| Broad Salinity Range | None | Mesohaline-Euhaline |
General Impacts
Conopeum tenuissimum is a common fouling organism in its introduced range, including San Francisco Bay, Coos Bay, and Sydney Harbor (Vail and Wass 1981; Carlton 1989; Cohen and Carlton 1995), but specific economic or ecological impacts have not been reported.Regional Distribution Map
| Bioregion | Region Name | Year | Invasion Status | Population Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA-ET3 | Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras | 0 | Native | Estab |
| NA-ET2 | Bay of Fundy to Cape Cod | 0 | Native | Estab |
| CAR-VII | Cape Hatteras to Mid-East Florida | 0 | Native | Estab |
| CAR-I | Northern Yucatan, Gulf of Mexico, Florida Straits, to Middle Eastern Florida | 0 | Native | Estab |
| WA-II | None | 1959 | Def | Estab |
| AUS-X | None | 1977 | Def | Estab |
| NEP-V | Northern California to Mid Channel Islands | 1951 | Def | Estab |
| NEP-IV | Puget Sound to Northern California | 1970 | Def | Estab |
| CAR-III | None | 0 | Native | Estab |
| P170 | Coos Bay | 1970 | Def | Estab |
| P090 | San Francisco Bay | 1951 | Def | Estab |
| P080 | Monterey Bay | 1998 | Def | Estab |
| P130 | Humboldt Bay | 2000 | Def | Estab |
| P093 | _CDA_P093 (San Pablo Bay) | 1951 | Def | Estab |
| P058 | _CDA_P058 (San Pedro Channel Islands) | 2011 | Def | Unk |
| NEP-VI | Pt. Conception to Southern Baja California | 2011 | Def | Unk |
Occurrence Map
| OCC_ID | Author | Year | Date | Locality | Status | Latitude | Longitude |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 767361 | Ruiz et al., 2015 | 2012 | 2012-08-22 | Tomales-Marshall, Bodega Bay, California, USA | Def | 38.1514 | -122.8888 |
| 767390 | Ruiz et al., 2015 | 2012 | 2012-08-16 | Tomales-SNPS, Bodega Bay, California, USA | Def | 38.1359 | -122.8719 |
| 767797 | Ruiz et al., 2015 | 2011 | 2011-09-15 | Richmond Marina Bay Yacht Harbor, San Francisco Bay, CA, California, USA | Def | 37.9117 | -122.3494 |
| 767810 | Ruiz et al., 2015 | 2011 | 2012-09-20 | San Leandro Marina, San Francisco Bay, CA, California, USA | Def | 37.6979 | -122.1912 |
| 767841 | Ruiz et al., 2015 | 2011 | 2011-09-16 | Loch Lomond Marina, San Francisco Bay, CA, California, USA | Def | 37.9724 | -122.4796 |
| 767850 | Ruiz et al., 2015 | 2011 | 2011-09-13 | Oyster Point Marina, San Francisco Bay, CA, California, USA | Def | 37.6725 | -122.3864 |
| 767895 | Ruiz et al., 2015 | 2011 | 2011-09-27 | Vallejo Marina, San Francisco Bay, CA, California, USA | Def | 38.1086 | -122.2694 |
| 767957 | Ruiz et al., 2015 | 2011 | 2011-09-28 | Benicia Marina, San Francisco Bay, CA, California, USA | Def | 38.0453 | -122.1561 |
| 768030 | Ruiz et al., 2015 | 2012 | 2012-08-27 | Port of San Francisco Pier 31, San Francisco Bay, CA, California, USA | Def | 37.8078 | -122.4060 |
| 768052 | Ruiz et al., 2015 | 2012 | 2012-09-11 | Ballena Isle Marina, San Francisco Bay, CA, California, USA | Def | 37.7676 | -122.2869 |
| 768074 | Ruiz et al., 2015 | 2012 | 2012-08-30 | Oyster Point Marina, San Francisco Bay, CA, California, USA | Def | 37.6633 | -122.3817 |
| 768122 | Ruiz et al., 2015 | 2012 | 2012-09-04 | Redwood City Marina, San Francisco Bay, CA, California, USA | Def | 37.5023 | -122.2130 |
| 768225 | Ruiz et al., 2015 | 2012 | 2012-09-13 | San Leandro Marina, San Francisco Bay, CA, California, USA | Def | 37.6962 | -122.1919 |
| 768265 | Ruiz et al., 2015 | 2013 | 2013-08-15 | Ballena Isle Marina, San Francisco Bay, CA, California, USA | Def | 37.7656 | -122.2858 |
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