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
Loading...
Date
2022
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Regional Euro-Asian Biological Invasions Centre (REABIC)
Abstract
During 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.
Description
Keywords
Climate change, Biology, Megabalanus tintinnabulum, Megabalanus coccopoma, Barnacle, South Africa
Citation
Pfaff, M. C. et al. (2022). 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. BioInvasions Records, 11(3), 721-737. https://doi.org/10.3391/bir.2022.11.3.14