Cnidaria , Scleractinia , Tubastraea coccinea Lesson , 1829 and Tubastraea tagusensis Wells , 1982 : Distribution extension

The genus Tubastraea Lesson, 1829 was first reported for Brazil by Castro and Pires (2001). De Paula and Creed (2005) reported the genus at 31 locations on rocky shores at Ilha Grande, Ilha Grande Bay, but did not identify the species. De Paula and Creed (2004) were the first to report the species Tubastraea coccinea Lesson, 1829 and Tubastraea tagusensis Wells, 1982 in southeastern Brazil, at two sites at Ilha Grande, Ilha Grande Bay, state of Rio de Janeiro.

The genus Tubastraea Lesson, 1829 was first reported for Brazil by Castro and Pires (2001).De Paula and Creed (2005) reported the genus at 31 locations on rocky shores at Ilha Grande, Ilha Grande Bay, but did not identify the species.De Paula and Creed (2004) were the first to report the species Tubastraea coccinea Lesson, 1829 and Tubastraea tagusensis Wells, 1982 in southeastern Brazil, at two sites at Ilha Grande, Ilha Grande Bay, state of Rio de Janeiro.
The two species are considered non-indigenous to the south-western Atlantic because, although extremely conspicuous, they have not been previously reported by coral specialists in studies of Ilha Grande Bay (Castro et al. 1999).De Paula and Creed (2004) listed observations on oil and gas platforms in Brazilian waters and De Paula and Creed (2005) presented compelling evidence that these vectors were responsible for this double-species introduction at Ilha Grande Bay.
As part of a large marine biodiversity project carried out in 2003 and more localized investigations of the biology and ecology of these species ongoing since 2000, this paper presents 33 new locality records for T. coccinea and 37 new locality records for T. tagusensis.
The sun corals have demonstrated an extremely rapid range expansion along the coastline of Rio de Janeiro State, occupying the infralittoral fringe and subtidal zones of these tropical rocky shores, where the subtidal benthic community consists of macroalgae (multi-species turf forming, crustose coralline and foliose brown algae), heterotrophic filter feeders (mainly sponges, bryozoans and ascidians) and symbiotic autotrophs (corals such as Mussismilia hispida (Verrill 1902) and zoanthid mats -mainly Palythoa caribeorum (Duchassaing and Michelotti 1860).
Previous studies have reported the deleterious effects of the non-indigenous sun corals on the native biota of Ilha Grande Bay and the two species are considered to be harmful invasive species that represent a threat to the biodiversity and native community of rocky shores (Creed 2006).
The occurrence and range expansion of these exotic invasive species at Ilha Grande Bay is of concern because of the high marine biological diversity and ecological importance of the region (Creed et al. 2007).

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Records of Tubastraea coccinea in Ilha Grande Bay, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, provided by this study.Open circles, absent; closed circles, present.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Records of Tubastraea tagusensis in Ilha Grande Bay, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, provided by this study.Open circles, absent; closed circles, present.

Table 1 .
-Number and proportion of sites where Tubastraea spp.were present in Ilha Grande Bay, Brazil.