Alexander Lopeztegui - Castillo¹ , Adriana Artiles - Valor¹ , Yuliesky Garcés - Rodríguez¹ , Roberto - Castelo Báez¹ , Ninieska Castro - Graña²

1. Fisheries Research Center, 5th. Ave. and 246, Barlovento, Playa, Havana, Cuba
2. Fishery of Cienfuegos, Fertilizers Street, Industry Zone Number 2. Obourke, Cienfuegos, Cuba
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2014, Vol. 4, No. 14   doi: 10.5376/ijms.2014.04.0014
Received: 28 Nov., 2013    Accepted: 29 Dec., 2013    Published: 02 Feb., 2014

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Lopeztegui - Castillo et al., 2014, Epifauna Associated with the Asian Green Mussel Perna viridis (Mytiloida: Mytilidae) in Cienfuegos Bay, Cuba, International Journal of Marine Science, Vol.4, No.14: 134-142 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2014.04.0014)

In this study we explored the species composition, space and temporary variations of the epifauna associated with the invasive species Perna viridis (Asian green mussel) in Cienfuegos Bay. Epifauna was collected by scraping shells surface of 577 P. viridis individuals extracted from four sites where greater abundance: the wharves Pablo Guzmán (PG), Siete Cuadras (M7), Punta La Cueva (PC), and the Barco Hundido (BH). The first three sites were located near to human population establishments while BH was relatively far from such establishments. Barnacles (Cirripedia) were the most important group among sampled epifauna, followed by bryozoans and ascidians. Other groups as sponges, anemones, polychaetes, non-sessile crustaceans like brachyurans and anomurans, turbellaries, ophiuroids, bivalves and gasthropods, were also represented. A total of 39 species were identified as components of epifauna, which coexist naturally with mussels without demonstrating ecosystem affectations or mutual exclusion effects (displacement of species). The total biomass values decreased from February to May and increase toward November at all sampling sites. Significant differences were found for the main groups of the epifauna when comparing on temporal scale. Total biomass values showed significant differences on spatial scale. BH was the site with less value, only vegetal elements were found. Those differences could be related with anthropogenic impact, which is greater near to human population establishment (Cienfuegos City). The information providing by this study seems to be against the hypothesis that P. viridis represents an ecological damage in Cienfuegos Bay at least for the current mussel densities, but it is not enough to reject that hypothesis.

Perna viridis; Asian green mussel; Invasive species; Cienfuegos Bay