Abstract
The presence of non-indigenous species outside their home range attracts growing attention by the scientific community, as well as policy makers and common citizens. However, dispersal pathways of most non-indigenous species remain poorly understood. The association between non-indigenous and indigenous species may facilitate dispersal in non-native habitats. Identifying such associations is therefore paramount, but few studies have addressed this issue to date. The present work reports the association between the non-indigenous spider crab Pyromaia tuberculata, morphologically and molecularly identified, with the autochthonous scyphomedusa Catostylus tagi in European waters. This is the first time this widespread invasive brachyuran crab is described associated with jellyfish. In the laboratory, P. tuberculata was observed feeding on the gonadal tissues of its cnidarian host, although this behaviour needs to be confirmed in the wild. The association between P. tuberculata and C. tagi raises awareness on how the dispersal potential of this non-indigenous species may be significantly enhanced. As recommended by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, it is important to include P. tuberculata in the European monitoring programmes of non-indigenous species. Future studies should continue to investigate the prevalence of this specific association, as well as other associations between jellyfish and non-indigenous fauna, as an early warning initiative. Researchers may benefit from ongoing citizen science projects to gather data on this overlooked pathway for dispersal of non-indigenous species.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Prof. Zilda Morais and Raquel Lisboa for collecting the biological material and providing some of the photographs used in the present work, as well as the videos featured in the supplementary material. We also thank Filipe Cohen for technical support.
Funding
We acknowledge the financial support to CESAM (UIDB/50017/2020+UIDP/50017/2020) by FCT/MEC through national funds, and the co-funding by FEDER, within PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020. Patricia Martins was supported by the Integrated Programme of SR&TD “SmartBioR - Smart Valorization of Endogenous Marine Biological Resources Under a Changing Climate” (Centro-01-0145-FEDER-000018), co-funded by Centro 2020 program, Portugal 2020, European Union, through the European Regional Development Fund. Cátia Bartilotti was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship within the project “PLANTROF- Dinâmica do plâncton e transferência trófica: Biodiversidade e ecologia do zooplâncton de Portugal” funded by Mar 2020- Programa Operacional Mar 2020 Portaria N.° 118/2016. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments, which have helped to improve our manuscript.
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All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for animal testing, animal care and use of animals were followed by the authors.
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The DNA sequences generated in this study were deposited in GenBank® under accession numbers MT656330 and MT655553.
P. tuberculata was deposited at the MNHNC - Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência, Universidade de Lisboa in Portugal, under the catalogue number MB12-004401.
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PM, CB and RC conceived and designed research. PM and RC analysed the morphological features. PM and CB analysed the molecular data. PM and RC wrote the first draft of the manuscript. PM, CB and RC revised and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Martins, P., Bartilotti, C. & Calado, R. The association of the non-indigenous spider crab Pyromaia tuberculata with the jellyfish Catostylus tagi as a potential spread mechanism in European waters. Mar. Biodivers. 50, 109 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-020-01142-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-020-01142-z