Marine Invasive Alien Crustaceans of India

doi:10.15406/jamb.2017.05.00115

Journal of

eISSN: 2378-3184

Aquaculture & Marine Biology

Mini Review Volume 5 Issue 2

Marine Invasive Alien Crustaceans of India

NC Nandi,

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MK Dev Roy

Social Environmental and Biological Association, India

Correspondence: NC Nandi, Social Environmental and Biological Association, India

Received: February 02, 2017 | Published: February 13, 2017

Citation: Roy MKD, Nandi NC (2017) Marine Invasive Alien Crustaceans of India. J Aquac Mar Biol Biol 5(2): 00115 DOI: 10.15406/jamb.2017.05.00115

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Mini Review

An invasive species is one which has been introduced from one geographical location to another through human agency and upon establishment has a tendency to spread (invade), causing damage to the environment, man-made structure and human health or economy. An introduced (also referred to as alien, exotic, non-indigenous or non-native) species becomes invasive when it outcompetes native species for various resources such as space, light, water or food. The new environment may offer fewer able competitors, thereby allowing the invader species to multiply quickly (Wikipedia). The invasives are widely distributed in all types of ecosystems and posing a serious threat to native biodiversity leading to the extinction of native species. Wilcove et al.¹ considered invasive species as the second major cause of extinctions of native and endemic species around the world. According to an estimate in 2001, the economic loss caused by invasive species to agriculture and forestry in India is to the tune of 91 billion dollar a year Hiremath & Krishnan.² The magnitude of invasions may be apparently local, but the drivers of bio-invasion are global. According to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), there is a need for “compilation and dissemination of information on alien species that threaten ecosystem, habitats, or species, to be used in the context of any prevention, introduction and mitigation activities (CBD, 2000)”.

Invasion of a species (bio-invasion) from one bio-region to another takes place in two ways. They may be intentional (such as aquacultural/agricultural purposes etc.) or unintentional (such as through ship’s ballast water discharge and fouling of ship hulls).

India has 13 major and 200 non-major ports. About 95% of India’s trade by volume and 70% of value takes place through maritime transport. Ships are considered as the major factor for translocation of alien species from one bio-region to another. In this respect, harbours serve as a gateway for the introduction of species. Information on marine invasive species from Indian maritime system is very meagre. During the last one decade, quite a good number of crustacean species has been reported as ‘introduced’ to Indian waters by ballast water (Table 1). This consists of 5 species of decapods, 6 species of isopods, 9 species of amphipods, 7 species of cirripedes and 5 species of copepods. Only one species of decapod, namely, Litopenaeus vannamei has been introduced to Indian water for aquaculture purposes. The invasive status of some of these species, however, are yet to be determined. So far, no ecological impact of these species to native ecosystems are ascertained. However, the possibility that they could be undergoing a lag phase cannot be ruled out. This is the first comprehensive list on crustacean invasive species from Indian maritime ecosystems.^3-11

Sl. No.	Group and Species	Family	Native/Exotic/Cryptogenic	Threat Status	Source
	Decapoda
1	Penaeus (Penaeus) monodon (Fabricius, 1798)	Penaeidae	Native	Not suspected	Anil et al.⁴
2	Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931)	Penaeidae	Exotic, Introduced	Not suspected	Dev Roy.⁵
3	Charybdis (Charybdis) feriata (Linnaeus, 1758)	Portunidae	Native	Suspected harmful species	Anil et al.⁴
4	Charybdis (Charybdis) hellerii (A.Milne Edwards, 1861)	Portunidae	Native	Known harmful species	Anil et al.⁴
5	Scylla serrata (Forskal, 1775)	Portunidae	Native	Not suspected	Anil et al.⁴
	Isopoda
6	Cirolana hardfordi (Lockington, 1877)	Cirolanidae	Exotic	Not suspected	Anil et al.⁴
7	Cilicaea latreillei Leach Limnoriidae, 1818	Cirolanidae	Exotic	Not suspected	Anil et al.³
8	Paradella dianae (Menzies, 1962)	Sphaeromatidae	Exotic	Not suspected	Anil et al.⁴
9	Sphaeroma serratum (Fabricius, 1787)	Sphaeromatie	Exotic	Not suspected	Anil et al.⁴
10	Sphaeroma walkeri	Sphaeromatie	Native	Not suspected	Anil et al.⁴
11	Synidotea laevidorsalis (Benedict, 1897	Idoteidae	Exotic	Not suspected	Anil et al.⁴
	Amphipoda
12	Monocorophium acherusicum (Costa, 1853) as Corophium acherusicum Costa, 1853	Corophiidae	Exotic	Not yet assessed	Shyamasudari .⁸
13	Jassa falcata (Montague, 1808)	Ischyroceride	Exotic	Not yet assessed	Shyamasundari.⁸
14	Jassa marmorata Holmes, 1905	Ischyroceride	Exotic	Not suspected	Anil et al.⁴
15	Elasmopus rapax Costa, 1853	Maeridae	Exotic	Not yet assessed	Shyamasundari.⁸
16	Quadrimaera pacifica (Schellenberg, 1938) as Maera pacifica Schellenberg, 1938	Maeridae	Exotic	-	Anil et al.³
17	Paracaprella pusilla Mayr, 1890	Caprellidae	Exotic	Not yet assessed	Guerra-García,⁷
18	Stenothoe gallensis Walker, 1904	Stenothoidae	Exotic	-	Anil et al.⁴
19	Stenothoe valida Dana, 1852	Stenothoidae	Exotic	Not yet assessed	Shyamasundari.⁸
20	Podocerus brasiliensis (Dana, 1853)	Podoceridae	Exotic	-	Anil et al.⁴ Shyamasundari.⁸
	Cirripedia
21	Amphibalanus cirratus (Darwin, 1854) as Balanus amphitrite cirratus	Archaebalane	Native	Not suspected	Anil et al.⁴
22	Amphibalanus eburneus (Gould, 1841) as Balanus amphitrite eburneus	Archaebalane	Cryptogenic	Not suspected	Anil et al.⁴
23	Amphibalanus reticulatus (Utinomi, 1967) as Balanus reticulatus Utinomi, 1967 and Balanus amphitrite hawaiiensis Broch	Archaebalane	Exotic	Not suspected	Anil et al.⁴Anil et al.³
24	Fistulobalanus pallidus (Darwin, 1854)= Balanus amphitrite stutsburi (Darwin)	Balanidae	Exotic	-	Wagh.⁹ Anil et al.⁴
25	Balanus trigonus Darwin, 1854	Balanidae	Native	Not suspected	Anil et al.⁴
26	Megabalanus tintinnabulum (Linnaeus, 1758)	Balanidae	Exotic	Known harmful species	Anil et al.⁴
27	Megabalanus zebra (Darwin, 1854)	Balanidae	Cryptogenic	Not suspected	Anil et al.⁴
	Copepoda
28	Nannocalanus minor (Claus, 1863)	Calanidae	Exotic	-	Gaonkar et al.⁶
29	Cosmocalanus sp.	Calanidae	-	-	Gaonkar et al.⁶
30	Paracalanus sp.	Calanidae	-	-	Gaonkar et al.⁶
31	Tortanus sp.	Tortanidae	-	-	Gaonkar et al.⁶
32	Euterpina acutifrons (Dana, 1847)	Euterpinidae	Exotic	-	Gaonkar et al.⁶