Ectosymbionts of the non‐indigenous Asian shore crab,Hemigrapsus sanguineus(Decapoda: Varunidae), in the western north Atlantic, and a search for its parasites

Abstract

Over 560 Asian shore crabs, Hemigrapsus sanguineus, collected mainly in the spring of 2005 and 2006 from rocky intertidal locations in southern New Jersey, were examined for epibionts. Small numbers of the sympatric green crab, Carcinus maenas, and the Atlantic mud crab, Panopeus herbstii, were examined for epifauna to compare with H. sanguineus. Blue mussel spat, Mytilus edulis, and the encrusting, cheilostome bryozoan, Conopeum tenuissimum, were the dominant ectosymbionts of the shore crab, with prevalences of 22.2 and 32.1%, respectively; ranges of intensity were 1-146 spat/crab and 1-31 colonies/crab. Both species are incidental symbionts. Larger crabs had higher prevalences and intensities of C. tenuissimum colonies, and these colonies displayed a distinct pattern of attachment to the carapace which seemed to be related to crab morphology and habitat. Much less common was the encrusting, ctenostome bryozoan Alcyonidium albescens, a facultative symbiont species with a prevalence of 3.4%. Other epibionts were the encrusting, cheilostome Membranipora tenuis, the tubicolous polychaetes Hydroides dianthus, Sabellaria vulgaris, and Spirorbis sp., the barnacles Balanus improvisus and Semibalanus balanoides, and unidentified thecate hydroids, all incidental symbionts with prevalences from 0.2 to 3.2%. The total number of known ectosymbionts of H. sanguineus, including additional species found previously in the USA and the western Pacific, is 13. Carcinus maenas and P. herbstii share some of the same symbionts. Rhizocephalan externae were not observed in any of the crab species used in this study, nor were gill parasites or internal parasites found among 248 specimens of H. sanguineus.

A checklist of turtle and whale barnacles (Cirripedia: Thoracica: Coronuloidea)

“…Achituv, 1998: 1204; Anderson, 1994: 31; Bakır et al, 2010: 1; Bland & Amerson, 1974: 232; Broch, 1924b: 203; 1927b: 136; 1935: 2; 1947: 4; Celis et al, 2007: 327; Chan et al, 2009: 168; Condrey & Gelpi, 2010: 6; Costa et al, 2010: 387; Crisp, 1974: 230; 1983: 281; Crisp & Costlow, 1963: 22; Daniel, 1955: 32; Darwin, 1854: 396; Dawydoff, 1952: 129; Edmondson, 1933: 231; Ernst & Barbour, 1972: 100; Farrapeira, 2010: 212; Frazier, 1986: 472; Frazier & Margaritoulis, 1990: 213; Frick et al, 2004: 615; Gaddes & Sumpton, 2004: 241; Gannon, 1990: 56; Gauld, 1957: 10; Gittings et al, 1986: 3; Gordon, 1970: 90; Gray, 1825: 105; Gruvel, 1905a: 268; 1907: 8; 1912: 346; Harris et al, 2000: 395; Harzhauser et al, 2011: 475; Heath, 1976: 59; Henry, 1943: 367; 1954: 444; Hiro, 1936a: 60; Hudson & Lester, 1994: 183; Inatsuchi et al, 2010: 904; Innocenti, 2006: 6; Jackson et al, 1973: 495; Javed & Mustaquim, 1994: 124; Johnson & Bonner, 1960: 147; Jones, 2003: 483; 2004: 126; 2010: 208; Jones et al, 1990: 11; Kelly & Sanford, 2010: 39; Key Jr et al, 1997: 426; Kitsos et al, 2003: 406; 2005: 259; Kolosváry, 1943: 98; Korschelt, 1933: 17; Krüger, 1911a: 4; Lacombe, 1977: 11; Lacombe & Rangel, 1978: 5; Lang, 1976: 219; Lawal-Are & Daramola, 2010: 520; Lemaitre, 1995: 646; Liu & Ren, 2007: 308; Mantelatto et al, 2003: 211; McDermott, 1998: 293; 1999: 427; 2007: 2380; McDougall, 1943: 343; Monroe, 1981: 241; Nakamura et al, 1994: 99; Negreiros-Fransozo et al, 1995: 258; Newman & Ross, 1976: 18; Nilsson-Cantell, 1934: 61; 1938: 77; Norse & Estevez,…”

Differential escape from parasites by two competing introduced crabs

“…1, Table 2). In its introduced US East Coast range, little is known about parasite diversity of H. sanguineus, with the exception of 2 studies: Torchin et al (2001) in Ocean City, MD, where 27 crabs were investigated and 1 larval nematode was found, and McDermott (2007) in Cape May, NJ, where 250 crabs were investigated and no parasites were found. Therefore, in the summer and fall of 2007 we collected and dissected an average of 20 crabs site -1 from 7 geographically spaced sites (Fig.…”

“…For Hemigrapsus sanguineus (Brachyura: Grapsoidea: Varunidae), native parasite diversity has been only partially documented in the literature (Torchin et al 2001, McDermott 2007, and nothing has yet been compiled to show overall parasite richness in the crab in either the native or introduced populations. In its native Asian range, some information on individual parasites has been compiled (e.g.…”

A new early brachyuran (Crustacea, Decapoda) from the Middle Jurassic of northwest France, epibionts and ecological considerations

“…This one may correspond equally to a post-mortem settlement or to a syn-vivo one (epizoozoans; Taylor and Wilson, 2003), in other words to a palaeosymbiosis between the crab and the bryozoans (Fig 6A-D; in green). Indeed, bryozoan colonies are well reported on extant alive brachyurans (Ryland and Stebbing, 1971;Mori and Manconi, 1990;Cadée, 1991;Becker and Wahl, 1996;Abello and Corbera, 1996;Parapar et al, 1997;Key et al, 1999;Gordon and Wear, 1999;Fernandez-Leborans, 2003;Waugh et al, 2004;McGaw, 2006;Savoie et al, 2007;McDermott, 2007), sometimes even with true selection of the alive crab by the larva (J.-L. d'Hondt, pers. obs.…”

“…Among extant decapod crustaceans, symbiotic bryozoans are frequently recorded in brachyurans (Ryland and Stebbing, 1971;Mori and Manconi, 1990;Cadée, 1991;Becker and Wahl, 1996;Abello and Corbera, 1996;Parapar et al, 1997;Key et al, 1999;Gordon and Wear, 1999;Fernandez-Leborans, 2003;Waugh et al, 2004;McGaw, 2006;Savoie et al, 2007;McDermott, 2007) and in anomurans (Buge and Lecointre, 1962;Schembri, 1982;Walker, 1988;Taylor et al, 1989;Taylor, 1994;McDermott, 2001;Carter andGordon, 2007, Klicpera et al, 2013).…”