Abstract
The Northwest Atlantic bamboo worm Clymenella torquata, believed to have been imported with commercial oyster culture, was last formally reported from the American Pacific coast more than 30 years ago from a single location. We report here that it is broadly distributed in British Columbia and is now established in Washington. In Samish Bay, Washington, this tubiculous infaunal worm creates a spongy, porous substrate that has proved detrimental to commercial oyster farms by causing the oysters to sink into the sediment and suffocate. Little is known about the ecological or economic impacts of this invasion in the Pacific Northwest.
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Acknowledgments
We thank James Carlton for advice and extensive editing help. Personal communications with Paul Blau, Steven R. Booth, Megan Dethier, Bill Dewey, Paul A. Dinnel, and Russel E. Rogers provided the majority of information for Washington State. R. Eugene Ruff supplied his taxonomic skill. Trampus Goodman helped in field collections, lab identification, and reference photography. Funding for this research was provided by the Canadian Aquatic Invasive Species Network.
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Mach, M.E., Levings, C.D., McDonald, P.S. et al. An Atlantic infaunal engineer is established in the Northeast Pacific: Clymenella torquata (Polychaeta: Maldanidae) on the British Columbia and Washington Coasts. Biol Invasions 14, 503–507 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-011-0096-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-011-0096-6