Abstract
Six species of barnacles belonging to three families have been recorded in the Black Sea. All of them have a pelagic stage of development in their life cycle. Verruca spengleri Darwin 1854, a representative of the family Verrucidae, is known to be a Mediterranean species that has invaded the Black Sea. The aim of this work was to study the dynamics of the population density of V. spengleri larvae in the coastal waters of Crimea. The studies were carried out in 2019–2021 along the coast of Sevastopol. Samples were taken monthly with a Juday plankton net (inlet diameter 36 cm, mill gas mesh 135 µm). The water layer of 10–0 m was investigated. Live samples were processed by total counting of the larvae in a Bogorov chamber, using MBS-9 and Mikmed-5 light microscopes. Larvae of V. spengleri were found in plankton only in the summer season. Single nauplii at the early stages of development were recorded in late May to early June when the water warmed up to 18–19°C. An increase in the density of verruca larvae was recorded in June–July at temperatures in the range of 20–25°C. In August, the number of larvae decreased approximately tenfold, while in September none were found. The data obtained indicate that the spawning period of V. spengleri off the Crimean coast lasts about three months. In recent years, near the coast of Sevastopol, the number of larvae of V. spengleri is noted to have increased significantly. Their density reached 1068–1556 ind./m3, while in the period 1994–2004 it did not exceed 153 ind./m3. The data obtained confirm that the barnacle V. spengleri has successfully naturalized and spread widely in the coastal waters of the northern part of the Black Sea.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Dolgopol’skaya, M.A., Another case of incomplete immigration from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, Tr. Sevastopol. Biol. Stn., 1954, vol. 8, pp. 174–177.
Kapranov, S.V., Kovrigina, N.P., Troshchenko, O.A., and Rodionova, N.Yu., Long-term variations of thermohaline and hydrochemical characteristics in the mussel farm area in the coastal waters off Sevastopol (Black Sea) in 2001–2018, Cont. Shelf Res., 2020, vol. 206, pp. 1–16.
Lisitskaya, E.V., Meroplankton, in Biologiya Chernogo morya u beregov Yugo-Vostochnogo Kryma (Biology of the Black Sea Near the Coast of the South-Eastern Crimea), Kostenko, N.S., Ed., Simferopol: IT ARIAL, 2018, pp. 234–244.
Ostroumov, A.A., Otchet o deyatel’nosti Biologicheskoi stantsii v Sevastopole za dvukhletie, 1892–1893 g. (Report on the Activities of the Biological Station in Sevastopol for Two Years, 1892–1893), St. Petersburg: Tipogr. Imperat. Akad. Nauk, 1893.
Poltarukha, O.P., Diagnostic characters and a key to identifying all naupliar stages of barnacles (Crustacea, Cirripedia, Thoracica), permanently living in the Black Sea, Byull. Mosk. O-va Ispyt. Prir., Otd. Biol., 2002, vol. 107, no. 1, pp. 26–31.
Poltarukha, O.P. and Grintsov, V.A., Comparative study of morphology and some features of ecology of Verruca spengleri (Crustacea, Cirripedia) from the Black Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, Zool. Zh., 2003, vol. 82, no. 6, pp. 659–664.
Poltarukha, O.P. and Korn, O.M., Atlas-opredelitel’ lichinok usonogikh rakov (Cirripedia: Thoracica) pribrezhnykh vod Rossii (Atlas–Identification Guide to Barnacle (Cirripedia: Thoracica) Larvae of Russian Coastal Waters), Moscow: KMK, 2008.
Ryabushko, V.I., Shchurov, S.V., Kovrigina, N.P., Lisitskaya, E.V., and Pospelova, N.V., Comprehensive environmental studies—as the basis for choosing a location for a marine farm in the coastal zone of the western Crimea (Black Sea), Ekol. Bezop. Pribrezhn. Shel’f. Zon Morya, 2019, no. 2, pp. 67–77.
Ryabushko, V.I., Shchurov, S.V., Kovrigina, N.P., Lisitskaya, E.V., and Pospelova, N.V., Comprehensive studies of the ecological state of the coastal waters of Sevastopol (Western Crimea, the Black Sea), Ekol. Bezop. Pribrezhn. Shel’f. Zon Morya, 2020, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 103–118.
Selifonova, Zh.P., Taxonomic composition and seasonal dynamics of the meroplankton of the coastal zone of the northeastern Black Sea, Russ. J. Mar. Biol., 2012, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 1–9.
Shalaeva, E.A. and Grintsov, V.A., Subclass Barnacles: Cirripedia and Thoracica, in Karadag. Gidrobiologicheskie issledovaniya (Karadag. Hydrobiological Research), Simferopol: Sonata, 2004, book 2, pp. 376–377.
Shiganova, T.A., Musaeva, E.I., Lukashova, T.A., Stupnikova, A.N., Zas’ko, D.N., Anokhina, L.L., Sivkovich, A.E., Gagarin, V.I., and Bulgakova, Yu.V., Increase in findings of Mediterranean nonnative species in the Black Sea, Russ. J. Biol. Invasions, 2012, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 255–280.
Topaloğlu, B. and Gönülal, O., A new record for the Turkish Aegean sea fauna: Scalpellum scalpellum Linnaeus, 1767 (Crustacea: Cirripedia: Thoracica), J. Black Sea/Mediterr. Environ., 2012, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 90–96.
Young, P.S., Cirripedia (Crustacea) from the “Campagne Biaçores” in the Azores région, including a generic revision of Verrucidae, Zoosystema, 1998, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 31–92.
Young, P.S., Zibrowius, H., and Bitar, G., Verruca stroemia and Verruca spengleri (Crustacea: Cirripedia): distribution in the north-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 2003, vol. 83, pp. 89–93.
Zaika, V.E., Sergeeva, N.G., and Kolesnikova, E.A., Invaders in the benthic macrofauna of the Black Sea: distribution and impact on benthal communities, Morsk. Ekol. Zh., 2010, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 5–22.
Zevina, G.B., Biologiya morskogo obrastaniya (Biology of Marine Fouling), Moscow: Mosk. Gos. Univ., 1994.
Zevina, G.B. and Dolgopol’skaya, M.A., Subclass barnacles—Cirripedia, in Opredelitel’ fauny Chernogo i Azovskogo morei (Identification Guide to the Fauna of the Black and Azov Seas), Kiev: Naukova Dumka, 1969, vol. 2, pp. 260–267.
Zevina, G.B. and Poltarukha, O.P., Barnacles (Cirripedia, Thoracica) of the Black Sea, Byull. Mosk. O-va Ispyt. Prir., Otd. Biol., 1999, vol. 104, no. 1, pp. 30–39.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to express our gratitude to the employees of Kovalevskii Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, Russian Academy of Sciences, O.A. Troshchenko, M.A. Popov, and M.M. Shevchenko for assistance in sampling and E.A. Shalaeva for scientific advice during the preparation of the manuscript.
Funding
This work was carried out within the framework of a State Assignment of the Federal Research Center of Kovalevskii Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, Russian Academy of Sciences, on the topic “Research into the Mechanisms of Control of Production Processes in Biotechnological Complexes in Order to Develop Scientific Foundations for Obtaining Biologically Active Substances and Technical Products of Marine Genesis,” state registration no. 121030300149-0.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Statement on the welfare of animals. All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lisitskaya, E.V., Shchurov, S.V. Larval Density Dynamics of Verruca spengleri (Crustacea, Cirripedia, Thoracica) in the Coastal Waters of Crimea. Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 50, 1653–1657 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359023070178
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359023070178