WATERSIPORIDAE

Mead, A., Carlton, J. T., Griffiths, C. L. & Rius, M., 2011, Introduced and cryptogenic marine and estuarine species of South Africa, Journal of Natural History 45 (39 - 40), pp. 2463-2524 : 2500

Family WATERSIPORIDAE

Watersipora subtorquata (d’Orbigny, 1852) Introduced (= Watersipora cucullata )

This common, shallow-water bryozoan originates from the Caribbean and has been dispersed worldwide through shipping (fouling and ballast water). Although possibly a very early introduction, it was first collected and reported in South Africa by O’Donoghue and de Watteville (1935) as Watersipora cucullata and later synonymized by Florence et al. (2007) with Watersipora subtorquata , based on identical morphological characteristics described by Gordon (1989). Florence et al. (2007) report its South African distribution as Saldahna Bay (west coast) to False Bay (southwest coast). There is some question as to whether Watersipora subovoidea and Watersipora subtorquata are separate species because of the weak characterization of the former so to establish the species boundaries within the genus, molecular techniques need to be applied ( Florence et al. 2007).