Salmacina tribranchiata ( Moore, 1923 )

Bastida-Zavala, J. Rolando, McCANN, Linda D., Keppel, Erica & Ruiz, Gregory M., 2017, The fouling serpulids (Polychaeta: Serpulidae) from United States coastal waters: an overview, European Journal of Taxonomy 344, pp. 1-76 : 49-50

Salmacina tribranchiata ( Moore, 1923)

Figs 7J , 10

Filograna tribranchiata Moore, 1923: 250–251 (type locality: off Santa Rosa Island, California, United States; 69–82 m; small mass of tubes on mixed bottom (mud, sand and rocks)).

Salmacina dysteri (non Huxley 1855) – Steinbeck & Ricketts 1941: 367 (Gulf of California: Los Angeles Bay, Baja California, and San Francisquito Island, Baja California Sur; encrusting on rocks).

Salmacina dysteri tribranchiata – Monro 1933: 1090 –1091, textfig. 31 (Tagus Cove, Isabela (Albemarle) Island, Galápagos; from a marine garden sheltered from the sun by an overhanging rock). — Berkeley & Berkeley 1941: 56 (Corona del Mar, Monterey Bay and Santa Cruz Island, California; 9–31 m).

Salmacina tribranchiata – Rioja 1941b: 738 –739, pl. 9, figs 11–14 (La Aguada Beach, Acapulco, Guerrero, southern Mexican Pacific; on the sabellariid Idanthyrsus johnstoni McIntosh, 1885 , now Idanthyrsus luciae (Rochebrune, 1882) , colonies). — Hartman 1969: 771 –772, figs 1–6 (central and southern California; intertidal to shelf depths; mixed bottoms). — Nogueira & ten Hove 2000: 158 – 159, Tables 1–2 (discussion). — Bastida-Zavala 2008: 43, fig. 10H–J (Alaska, California, Hawaii and Mexican Pacific: Sinaloa and Oaxaca; intertidal to 116m).— Carlton &Eldredge2009:62 –63(Hawaii; invasion history); 2015: 34 (Hawaii; introduction confirmed). — Bastida-Zavala et al. 2016: 433 – 434, figs 8, 12E–F (Mexican Pacific: Baja California, Baja California Sur and Oaxaca; intertidal to 1 m; in marinas and harbors, fouling).

Filograna implexa (non Berkeley 1835) – Kudenov 1980: 122 (Sonora coast, Gulf of California). — Kerstitch & Bertsch 2007: 38, fig. 63 (field guide of the Gulf of California; 46 m).

Material examined

212 specimens: ST (6) Aug. 2001, MI (1) Jul. 2013, SD (205) Aug. 2000 and Jul. 2013.

Additional material

More than 12 specimens: MBL-SD s.n., 2 specimens (approx. 32°40' N, 117°25' W, off San Diego, RV, sta. E–9 and E–14, 3 Oct. 1996 and 15 Jul. 2003, 116 m and 98 m); SERC- 233687, one specimen (Galapagos, photographed in vivo, by Erica Keppel, 1 May 2016, coll. SERC); UMAR-Poly 94, colony (Hawaii inter-island cargo barge, HF–023, hull fouling community roughly two years old; barge only operates in Hawaii, coll. S. Godwin).

Diagnosis

This species is gregarious and can form colonies. Tube white, thin, with transverse ridges; without peristomes, longitudinal ridges or alveoli. Branchial crown with 3–4 radioles in each lobe ( Fig. 7J ). Without opercular peduncle or operculum. Collar with fin-and-blade chaetae, with 3–5 big teeth. Thorax with seven segments; all thoracic chaetigers (except collar segment) with “ Apomatus ” chaetae.

Taxonomic remarks

Salmacina tribranchiata was the first species of the genus described from the eastern Pacific and as is the case for S. huxleyi , this name is preferred in the region until the status of species in this genus is clarified with SEM and/or molecular studies ( Nogueira & ten Hove 2000; Ben-Eliahu & ten Hove 2011).

Ecology

Intertidal to 116 m ( Bastida-Zavala 2008). On mixed bottoms, on rocks, on the sabellariid Idanthyrsus luciae , and as fouling of pier pilings ( Bastida-Zavala et al. 2016).

Distribution

Northeastern Pacific, from Alaska to Gulf of California, Hawaii, southern Mexican Pacific and Galápagos Islands ( Bastida-Zavala 2008). In this work, Salmacina tribranchiata was found abundantly and frequently on fouling plates from San Diego, southern California, and occasionaly from Sitka Bay, Alaska, and Mission Bay, southern California ( Fig. 10 ).

Figures

Fig. 7. Serpulids from United States fouling plates. Pomatostegus stellatus. A. Operculum, from Biscayne Bay, Florida (SERC-118825). – Protula balboensis. B–D. Tube, body and branchial crown, white arrow shows detail of rounded processes, Biscayne Bay, Florida (SERC-118825). E. Body of live adult from Smithsonian Institution station in Bocas del Toro, Panama (photo by Betel Martínez- Guerrero). – Pseudochitinopoma occidentalis. F. Operculum, Puget Sound, Washington (SERC- 33385R). – Pseudovermilia occidentalis. G. Operculum, Biscayne Bay, Florida (SERC-118450). – Salmacina huxleyi. H–I. Tubes, body and collar chaetae, Biscayne Bay, Florida (SERC-118449). – S. tribranchiata. J. Body, Galapagos Island (SERC-233687).

Fig. 10. Distribution of serpulids (Salmacina, Serpula and Spirobranchus spp.) from United States fouling plates (closed symbols) and literature records (open symbols).