Turbellarian taxonomic database

Record # 20927
Author
Title
Journal
Hoagland KE, Turner RD (1980)
Range Extensions of Teredinids Shipworms and Polychaetes in the Vicinity of a Temperate Zone Nuclear Generating Station New Jersey USA
Marine Biology (Berlin) 58(1): 55-64

Abstract / Notes

A study of marine boring and fouling organisms in the vicinity of the thermal effluent from the Oyster Creek
Nuclear Generating Station, Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, was conducted since 1971. Two subtropical species of
shipworms were found in significant numbers in the effluent. These are Teredo bartschi Clapp and T. furcifera
von Martens. The shipworm Lyrodus sp. and the flatworm Taenioplana teredini Hyman, which is predatory on
teredinids, were also found, but on only 1 occasion. The polychaete Ficopomatus enigmaticus (Fauvel) was
found for the 1st time on the Atlantic Coast of North America. Three other polychaetes, Potamilla
(Potamethus) spathiferus (Ehlers), Loimia medusa (Savigny) and Sphaerosyllis sp., were newly identified from
Barnegat Bay, but probably are not recent range extensions. Only T. bartschi, T. furcifera and F. enigmaticus
have established breeding populations. Their distributions and abundances are probably related to the thermal
effluent; this is most clear in the case of T. bartschi and least clear in the case of F. enigmaticus. T.
bartschi was confined at first to the heated effluent in Oyster Creek, but has spread to Forked River. It has
become a major faunal element in Oyster Creek. The impact of the other exotic species was negligible. The
primary mechanism of the range extensions is by boat transport.

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