A Rapid Assessment Survey of Macrobenthic Invasive Species in Korean Waters

초록

Introduced species are a growing and imminent threat to living marine resources in the World Oceans. The present study is a rapid assessment survey of macrobenthic invertebrate invasive species in Korean ports which are, to a certain extent, the most vulnerable to invasive species. We surveyed over 40 ports around Korea during the period of May 2010 ~ March 2013 including 97 sites. Sampling sites included concrete walls, dock fouling and associated floats, bumpers, tires, ropes, etc which might harbor non-native species. We found 15 invasive species were found as follows: one Sponge, two Bryozoans, three Mollusks, one Polychaete, four Cirripedes, and four Ascidians. We also performed 16sDNA analysis to examine species similarity among congeners. Ficopomatus enigmaticus was identified to be similar to that in Europe, and Xenostrobus securis to that in Australia, but we do not know how they may have arrived in Korean waters. Three morphologically similar species of X. atrata, M. galloprovincialis , and X. securis were further examined for their distinction in morphology. Although they could be reasonably distinguished based on shell shapes, significant overlap was noted that additional analysis (e.g., DNA analysis) may warrant to correctly discriminate among them.