Check List 17(3): 723-728, doi: 10.15560/17.3.723
A new record of Ascidiella scabra (Müller, 1776) (Ascidiacea, Phlebobranchia) in the southwestern Atlantic
expand article infoDiego R. Giménez‡§, Anabela Taverna|§, Marco Meloni#, Nancy Correa¤, Francisco Sylvester«», Marcos Tatián‡§
‡ Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina§ Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal (IDEA), Córdoba, Argentina| Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba capital, Argentina¶ Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina# Sofies, Woking, United Kingdom¤ Servicio de Hidrografía Naval (Ministerio de Defensa) y Escuela de Ciencias del Mar (Sede Educativa Universitaria. Facultad de la Armada. Universidad de la Defensa), Buenos Aires, Argentina« Universidad Nacional de Salta, Salta, Argentina» Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Salta, Argentina

Corresponding author: Diego R. Giménez ( romangimenez@gmail.com )

Academic editor: Luis Felipe Skinner
© Diego R. Giménez, Anabela Taverna, Marco Meloni, Nancy Correa, Francisco Sylvester, Marcos Tatián.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Open Access
Abstract

Non-indigenous ascidians are transported across oceans in vessel-hull fouling communities, and regional traffic plays a role in their secondary spread. We found the ascidian Ascidiella scabra (Müller, 1776) in the hull-fouling community of an oceanographic vessel confined to waters of the southwestern Atlantic and Southern Oceans. The previously known distribution of this species was restricted to its native area (Mediterranean Sea and northeastern Atlantic); its presence in the southwestern Atlantic may have been masked in the past by the occurrence of its congener Ascidiella aspersa (Müller, 1776).

Keywords
Ascidians, biofouling, non-indigenous, regional traffic, secondary spread, shipping