A First Assessment of Invasive Marine Species on Chinese and Korean Coasts

Although the Asian coast of the Pacific Ocean is known to be a source of invaders to many other parts of the world, such as Australia and North America, there has been relatively little work on invasions into this region. However, a picture of invasions to Asia is beginning to emerge. For example, over 40 invasive marine species have been recognized in Japan (Otani 2004, 2006) — a number which certainly represents an underestimate (see Chap. 2, Carlton). Among these invaders are species native to regions often receiving species translocated from Japan, such as the west coast of North American. Examples of American invaders to Japan include the crab Pyromaia tuberculata and the barnacle Balanus glandula. Japan and North America also share species which are not native to either area, such as the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis and the barnacle Balanus amphitrite(Crooks 2006). There are few published reports on the extent of invasions in other Asian countries, such as Korea and China, although it is assumed that many non-indigenous species have invaded here.

This chapter aims to summarize briefly the current knowledge on invasive marine species in these two countries, and will highlight species believed to be new in Chinese and Korean waters due to both anthropogenic transport as well as range expansions likely due to global warming and shifting temperature patterns (Park 2000, 2002; Kim 2002; Chap. 3, Lonhart).