Browsing by Author "Samaai, Toufiek"
Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Giants and titans: First records of the invasive acorn barnacles Megabalanus tintinnabulum (Linnaeus, 1758) and Megabalanus coccopoma (Darwin, 1854) on intertidal rocky shores of South Africa(Regional Euro-Asian Biological Invasions Centre (REABIC), 2022) Pfaff, Maya C.; Biccard, Aiden; Samaai, ToufiekDuring intertidal rocky shore surveys on the east coast of South Africa in 2018, the non-indigenous giant purple barnacle Megabalanus tintinnabulum (Linnaeus, 1758), a well-known fouling and globally-invasive species, was discovered. This motivated a survey of the entire South African east coast at 31 rocky shore sites, which confirmed that breeding populations of this barnacle have been established in most wave-exposed low-shore intertidal habitats between the Mozambique border and Mkambati Nature Reserve and that its current South African distribution spans 725 km of coastline. Another non-indigenous and common fouling species, the titan acorn barnacle M. coccopoma (Darwin, 1854), was discovered at three of the sites, its local distribution spanning 370 km of coastline. While currently uncommon, this species is known to reach high densities in other non-native regions. Both Megabalanus species are large and conspicuous and were not found during extensive surveys in the 1990s and early 2000s, suggesting that their introduction and spread occurred within the past two decades.Item Kelp holdfasts in the Great African Seaforest provide habitat for diverse assemblages of macroinvertebrates(Inter-Research, 2024) Samaai, Toufiek; Katharoyan, Chaitanya; Peer, NasreenKelp forests along the southwestern and west coasts of South Africa, dominated by the species Ecklonia maxima and Laminaria pallida, are locally termed ‘the Great African Seaforest’. They form 3-dimensional biogenic habitats that provide 4 distinct microhabitats—canopy, fronds, stipe and holdfast—with the latter typically supporting the highest abundance and diversity of associated macroinvertebrates. The macrofauna inhabiting kelp holdfasts in South Africa have rarely been studied, resulting in a near complete lack of baseline data. In this study, macrobenthic assemblages from 40 E. maxima holdfasts were examined over 2 marine ecoregions and 4 locations. Macroinvertebrates were identified and counted for univariate and multivariate analyses using family-level data. A total of 120 families from 9 phyla were identified and were generally dominated by Arthropoda (48 families), Annelida (24 families) and Mollusca (23 families). Marine ecoregion had no significant effect on composition of macroinvertebrate assemblages, whereas location had a significant effect. There was no significant relationship between holdfast volume and macroinvertebrate diversity or abundance, suggesting that other environmental and physicochemical factors are important in determining community structure. This study serves as a baseline for future research aimed at understudied holdfast macroinvertebrate communities in the Great African Seaforest.Item A revision of the genus Strongylodesma Lévi (Porifera: Demospongiae: Latrunculiidae) with descriptions of four new species(Cambridge University Press, 2009) Samaai, Toufiek; Gibbons, Mark J.; Kelly, MichelleThe sponge genus Strongylodesma is reviewed and redefined, and now accommodates eight closely related species. The type species of Strongylodesma Le´vi is redescribed and an additional two new species are described from the Indo-Pacific: S. novaecaledoniae sp. nov. and S. tongaensis sp. nov. Several specimens previously identified as species of Batzella (Poecilosclerida: Chondropsidae) have been re-assigned to Strongylodesma, as the new species S. purpureus sp. nov. and S. nigra sp. nov. With the description here of new species from the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Atlantic, the biogeographical distribution of Strongylodesma now appears to be generally tropical with a subtropical South African component, whereas previously it was only known from South Africa. Although species of Strongylodesma have not previously been recorded from the intermediate locations (Western Indian Ocean, South-east Asia, central west Pacific, and New Zealand), re-evaluation here will facilitate more readily the recognition of taxa in these intermediate regions, if they exist, in the future. The species are not widespread, except perhaps along the south-east coast of South Africa, and where they occur they are not abundant. Species occur over a wide depth range, from the intertidal in Tsitsikamma, South Africa, to 140 m in the Caribbean.Item Stakeholder-derived recommendations and actions to support deep-reef conservation in the Western Indian Ocean(Wiley, 2022) Stefanoudis, Paris V.; Talma, Sheena; Samaai, ToufiekDeep reefs below 30mprovide essential ecosystem services for ocean health and human well-being such as food security and climate change resilience. Yet, deep reefs remain poorly researched and largely unprotected, including in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO). Here, we assessed current conservation approaches in the WIO focusing on deep reefs, using a combination of online surveys and semi-structured interviews. Results indicated that deep-reef data are sparse and commonly stemming from non-peer-reviewed or non-publicly available sources, and are often not used to inform conservation of WIO marine protected areas.