NOBANIS - Marine invasive in Nordic waters - Fact Sheet

Platorchestia platensis

Author of this species fact sheet: Kathe R. Jensen, Zoological Museum, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Universitetsparken 15, 2100 København Ø, Denmark. Phone: +45 353-21083, E-mail: [email protected]

Bibliographical reference – how to cite this fact sheet: Jensen, Kathe R. (2010): NOBANIS – Invasive Alien Species Fact Sheet – platensis – From: Identification key to marine invasive species in Nordic waters – NOBANIS www.nobanis.org, Date of access x/x/201x.

Species description

Species name , Krøyer, 1845 – a beachflea

Synonyms platensis Krøyer, 1845

Common names No common names in use in Europe.

Family . These have the first antennae shorter than the second ones, 7 separate thoracic segments (pereonites), gnathopods 1 and 2 sexually dimorphic (larger in males), subchelate and gnathopod 1 usually much smaller than gnathopod 2, a.o. (see http://www.crustacea.net/crustace/amphipoda/www/talitrid.htm )

Taxonomic notes The type material from Uruguay is in the ZMUC (Lectotype: ZMUC CRU8221 ♂; Paralectotypes: ZMUC CRU7803 ♂ and ♀) and has been re-examined by Serejo (2004) and Serejo & Lowry (2008). They cast some doubt on whether European material is actually identical to the Uruguayan material. Platorchestia platensis has been described as a cosmopolitan species, but more recent studies have separated a number of “sibling species”, e.g., P. monodi Mateus, Mateus & Afonso, 1986 from the Azores, Madeira, Guadeloupe (West Indies), Ascension Island, Florida, South Carolina and Israel (Stock, 1996), P. ashmoleorum Stock, 1996 from St. Helena Island and P. paraplatensis Serejo & Lowry, 2008 from Western Australia.

Identification Identification to species level requires microscopic examination. Furthermore these often have sexual dimorphism, males generally being larger and having larger gnathopods and antennae. In Nordic waters P. platensis is most similar to the native species (Pallas, 1766). In freshwater and very low salinity brackish water of the Baltic there is one other non- indigenous species, Orchestia cavimana Heller, 1865. Other talitrid amphipods found in Nordic waters are Talitrus saltator (Montagu, 1808) and Talorchestia deshayesii (Audouin, 1826). Spicer & Janas (2006) provide an illustrated identification key for separating the above four species. An on-line identification key can be found at http://species-identification.org/

Platorchestia platensis A, D and E from Stock 1996 B from Serejo 2004 C from Miyamoto and Morino 2004

Orchestia cavimana possibly originally Ponto-Caspian. Presently found in Red Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of North Africa and Europe to southern North Sea. Recently also found in the Baltic (Herkül et al., 2006). For further information see: http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/crustacea.php?menuentry=soorten&id=478

Orchestia gammarellus distributed from Iceland and Lofoten, Norway to the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Also found in the Baltic Sea. It also occurs on the east coast of North America (Persson, 2001). For further information see: http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/bis/crustacea.php?menuentry=soorten&id=479

Talitrus saltator distributed from southern Norway to the Mediterranean and the Azores, and also in the Baltic Sea. For further information see: http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/bis/crustacea.php?menuentry=soorten&id=484 Talorchestia deshayesii distributed from Denmark, including Baltic Sea to Mediterranean and Black Sea. For further information see: http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/bis/crustacea.php?menuentry=soorten&id=485

Distribution

Native area Unknown. The fact that it was originally described from Uruguay does not mean that this must be its native area. The type locality, Rio de la Plata, Montevideo, is probably close to an international port. Hence the species should probably be considered cryptogenic. However, looking at its “history of invasion”, it seems clear that it has not originated in the NE Atlantic. Thus, it is most likely a non-indigenous species in Nordic waters.

Introduced area The first record after its original description is from a beach near Humlebæk in the northern part of Øresund (the Sound) in 1860. Over the next 50 years there are only occasional records from other locations in Øresund, but in the 1930s and 1940s it seems to be common on both sides of Øresund and the Swedish coast of Kattegat. It has also been found on the small islands of Læsø and Anholt in the middle of Kattegat. There are also some finds from southern Sweden and from the German Baltic coast during these decades (Dahl, 1946; Wolff, 2005). It probably arrived in the Netherlands around 1950 (Wolff, 2005), in the UK in 1978 (Wildish & Lincoln, 1979), in southern Norway in 1980, and in Poland in 2005 (Spicer & Janas, 2006). Secondary dispersal within the Baltic Sea seems to be ongoing (Persson, 2001). Furthermore P. platensis occurs in the Mediterranean (De Mattaeis et al., 2000), South China Sea (Hainan Island and Hong Kong) (Hou & Li, 2003) and Japan (Morino, 1978)

Vector Most probably ships’ ballast (Karlbrink, 1969).

Ecology

All talitrid amphipods (sandhoppers and beachfleas) are semiterrestrial, mostly found in supralittoral beach-fringes where they either dig in moist sand (sandhoppers) or live associated with beached decaying seaweeds. They are nocturnally active (Karlbrink, 1969). Platorchestia platensis is associated with banks of decaying seaweeds on the beach (Karlbrink, 1969). Dahl (1946) provided much useful information on the biology of this species and the native Orchestia gammarellus. There seems to be some sort of competitive exclusion because the two species are rarely found together. P. platensis can tolerate up to 30% water loss (Morritt & Spicer, 1998). It is also a more active “jumper” than O. gammarellus and thus probably better escapes predators (Karlbrink, 1969). It clings tenaciously to anything floating and this behaviour may be responsible for its secondary dispersal (Karlbrink, 1969).

Reproduction This was studied by Dahl (1946) who found that P. platensis has an extended reproductive period lasting from May to November and showing three maxima between June and October. This means that there is one more generation per year and this may account for the competitive superiority of the species.

Impacts

Competition with native species has been demonstrated for Swedish populations (Dahl, 1946; Karlbrink, 1969; Persson, 2001). P. platensis has been used as a biomonitor for heavy metals both in Hong Kong (Rainbow, 1992) and in Denmark (Casini & Depledge, 1997). Trials have been made to produce a feed for ornamental fish based on this species (Appadoo & Saudagur, 2008).

References

Casini, S. and Depledge, M.H. 1997. Influence of copper, zinc, and iron on cadmium accumulation in the talitrid amphipod, Platorchestia platensis. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 59: 500-506.

Ciavatti, G. and Louis, M. 1992. Étude démographique d’une population de Platorchestia platensis (Crustacé, ) en Guadeloupe. Revue Hydrobiologique Tropicale 25(1) : 35-46.

Dahl, E. 1946. The Amphipoda of the Sound. Part 1, Terrestrial Amphipoda. Undersökninger över Öresund 29. Lunds Universitets Årsskrift N.F. 2, 42: 1-53.

De Matthaeis, E., Davolos, D., Cobolli, M. and Ketmaier, V. 2000. Isolation by distance in equilibrium and nonequilibrium populations of four talitrid species in the Mediterranean Sea. Evolution 54(5): 1606-1613.

Defeo, O., McLachlan, A., Schoeman, D.S., Schlacher, T.A., Dugan, J., Jones, A., Lastra, M. and Scapini, F. 2009. Threats to sandy beach ecosystems: A review. Eastuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 81: 1-12.

Hou, Z.-E and Li, S. 2003. Terrestrial talitrid amphipod (Crustacea: Amphipoda) from China and Vietnam: studies on the collection of IZCAS. Journal of Natural History 37(20): 2441-2460.

Karlbrink, F. 1969. Distribution and dispersal of Talitridae (Amphipoda) in southern Sweden. Oikos 20: 327-334.

Lowry, J.K. 2000. Taxonomic status of amphipod in the South China Sea with a checklist of known species. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Supplement 8: 309-342.

McDonald, J.H. 1987. Repeated geographic variation at three enzyme loci in the amphipod Platorchestia platensis. Evolution 41(2): 438-441.

Morino, H. 1978. Studies on the Talitridae (Amphipoda, Crustacea) in Japan. III. Life history and breeding activity of Orchestia platensis Kröyer. Publications of the Seto Marine Biological Laboratory 24: 245-267.

Morino, H. and Ortal, R. 1995 Two Platorchestia species (Amphipoda, Talitridae) from Israel. Crustaceana 68(7): 824- 832.

Morritt, D. and Spicer, J.I. 1998. The physiological ecology of talitrid amphipods: an update. Canadian Journal of Zoology 76: 1965-1982.

Persson, L.-E. 2001. Dispersal of Platorchestia platensis (Kröyer) (Amphipoda: Talitridae) along Swedish coasts: A slow but successful process. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 52: 201-210. Rainbow, P.S. 1992. The talitrid amphipod Platorchestia platensis as a potential biomonitor of copper and zinc in Hong Kong: laboratory and field studies. In: The Marine Flora and Fauna of Hong Kong and Southern China IV (ed. B. Morton), pp. 599-610. University of Hong Kong Press, Hong Kong.

Rüppell, G. 1967. Zur Lokomotionsaktivität des Amphipoden Orchestia platensis im Freiland und im Laboratorium. Helgoländer wissenschaftliche Meeresuntersuchungen 15: 172-180.

Sereo, C.S. 2004. Talitridae (Amphipoda, ) from the Brazilian coastline. Zootaxa 646: 1-29.

Sereo, C.S. and Lowry, J.K. 2008. The coastal Talitridae (Amphipoda:Talitroidea) of Southern and Western Australia, with comments on Platorchestia platensis (Krøyer, 1845). Records of the Australian Museum 60: 161-206.

Spicer, J.I. and Janas, U. 2006. The beachflea Platorchestia platensis (Krøyer, 1845): a new addition to the Polish fauna (with a key to Baltic talitrid amphipods). Oceanologia 48(2): 287-295.

Stock, J.H. 1996. The Platorchestia (Crustacea, Amphipoda) on the Mid-Atlantic islands, with description of a new species from Saint Helena. Miscellània Zoològica 19(1): 149-157.

Teigsmark, G. 1981. Orchestia platensis (Talitridae), an amphipod new to the Norwegian fauna. Sarsia 66: 165.

Wildish, D.J. and Lincoln, R.J. 1979. Occurrence of Orchestia platensis Kröyer, 1845 (Amphipoda, Talitridae) in Britain. Crustaceana 36(2): 199-200.