There Is No Word That Rhymes With Tunicate

The invasive tunicate Didemnum was recently discovered in two Oregon bays.

Chesapeake Bay Goes Native

After five years of research and deliberation, officials in Maryland and Virginia have decided against plans to replenish the Chesapeake Bay's oyster bed by reseeding it with Asian oysters (Crassostrea ariakensis). Instead, looks like they will be focusing their efforts on the native C. virginiensis. This article in The Baltimore Sun indicates that there is still a chance of some limited testing with the Asian oysters in the future.

Your Biggest Fanworm

Stuff.co.nz is reporting that a fanworm (Sabella spallanzanii) native to the Mediterranean may have established itself at a port in New Zealand. The marine worm was first found last month, prompting a thorough search that yielded several specimens. Given that this species is prone to forming dense mats, officials are looking into whether eradication is a possibility.

Salt And Vinegar

A report in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer provides details of a promising treatment for dealing with invasive sea squirts. Faced with an onslaught of the colonial tunicate Didemnum in Puget Sound, one Washington biologist is testing whether acetic acid is an effective control method. Preliminary results suggest that a simple spray of the vinegary liquid kills off the Didemnum, perhaps supplanting the need for the labor-intensive plastic wrap method of killing off these marine invasives. If the treatment is successful, the US will likely owe a debt of gratitude to New Zealand, which has employed a number of innovative control techniques to deal with Didemnum (details in this report).

What Can Brown Do For You?

Stuff.co.nz is reporting that the New Zealand government is using strong measures to deal with the potential introduction of the brown mussel (Perna perna) into Tasman Bay. The response stems from a incident in late 2007 where an oil rig relocated to the bay in order to "defoul" (cleanse itself of unwanted organisms). The rig got clearance from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Biosecurity New Zealand (MAFBNZ) after initial inspections failed to reveal any species that New Zealand considered to be a problem. However, bad weather kept the rig closer to shore than expected, and further testing revealed the hull may have been contaminated with the invasive mussels. When the government sent robotic cameras under water to investigate, they detected what appeared to be brown mussels living at the site where the rig was located. While the exact species of mussel still needs to be confirmed, MAFBNZ is moving forward this week with a dredging of the area of Tasman Bay thought to be impacted, and the rig's owners are footing most of the bill.

Thanks to Andrew B. for sending in a link to the story.

SCUBA Dooby Doo!!!!

Great story in the San Juan Islander about a diver who discovered some odd-looking creatures while he was diving off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. The blob-like tunicates that Nick Brown found turned out to be Ciona savignyi, an invasive species previously unknown in those waters. The diver's sharp eye can be credited to the invasive species identification training he received from REEF, the Reef Environmental Education Foundation, a non-profit organization that has been training divers to identify marine organisms and participate in surveys for over a decade. Nick's id skills and photo were enough to get two scientists out to the site, where they discovered and removed several of the tunicates. The site will continue to be monitored for the presence of Ciona for the near future.

It's Aussie Spotted Jelly Time!

An NAS Alert was issued today following the recent discovery of the Australian spotted jellyfish (Phyllorhiza punctata) off the coast of Texas. While the jellies have been known in the Gulf of Mexico since the late 1990s (see a list of records here), specimens have only been collected from the Louisiana and Mississippi coastlines. This is the first record of this species in Galveston Bay.