EASIN - European Alien Species Information Network

Stefano PIRAINO
9/29/2015 1:57 PM

Sartoretto et al 2008 (Aquatic Invasions (2008) Volume 3, Issue 2: 173-180) provided an excellent historical account of the Mediterranean records and recent spread of O.patagonica. The same Authors warned the identification of O.patagonica should be regarded as provisional and tentative, being based the original description on Holocene fossil records with no living counterparts so far described from the South American coasts. A recent multi-locus genetic study (Leydet and Hellberg, 2015: BMC Evolutionary Biology 15:79) comparing Western Atlantic Oculina spp and Oculina patagonica from the Med sea suggested the lack of evidence of a recent introduction of the Mediterranean O. patagonica from Western Atlantic. Two alternative hypotheses of ancient migration from Eastern Atlantic populations (from France or Western Africa) have been proposed. Nonetheless, the lack of both genetic structure in extant populations and fossil records of O.patagonica in the Mediterranean Sea do not corroborate an ancient introduction of the species. Further sampling efforts are required to determine whether Eastern Atlantic populations occur and may be the source of Mediterranean extant O. patagonica. At the present stage of knowledge, a cautionary approach is recommended, by considering O. patagonica in the Mediterranean as a cryptogenic species rather than a true alien, unless living counterparts will be ever found in South America or other areas.

Thread Discussion: Oculina patagonica [thread closed]