Hydroides diramphus Mörch, 1863

Ben-Eliahu, M. Nechama & Ten Hove, Harry A., 2011, Serpulidae (Annelida: Polychaeta) from the Suez Canal- From a Lessepsian Migration Perspective (a Monograph) 2848, Zootaxa 2848 (1), pp. 1-147 : 17-19

Hydroides diramphus Mörch, 1863

Figs 4 , 5A–C

Hydroides (Eucarphus) dirampha Mörch, 1863: 379 , pl. 11 fig. 10 [Type locality: Antilles, St. Thomas].

Eupomatus lunulifer Claparède, 1870: 181–182 , pl. 31 fig. 3 [ Italy, Naples, on ship’s hull].

Hydroides lunulifera: Fauvel 1927: 358–359 , figs 122 p–s [ Spain, Valencia; Italy, Naples; ship fouling]; Day 1967: 807, figs 38.4j–k [ South Africa, Natal].

Hydroides dirampha: Zibrowius 1971: 706 , figs 6–9 [synonymy; Mexico, Vera Cruz; Panama, Colon; Venezuela; Brazil; Bermudas; Grenadines; Antigua; Florida; South Africa; Italy, Naples; Indonesia, Java; Hawaii; New Zealand]; Zibrowius 1979b: 133–134 [ France, Toulon Port, biofouling removed from the aircraft carrier “Foch”]; Bianchi 1981: 63–64, figs 21a–e [ Italy; Port Said]; Zenetos et al. 2005: 73 [classified as an “established cryptogenic alien invasive species” in the Mediterranean].

Eastern Mediterranean

Hydroides lunulifera: Potts 1928: 701 [ Egypt, Port Said (see “Material examined”), 1924 was first record from Levant Basin; Ghobashy 1977: 214–215, table 1 [Alexandria, under rocks; Ghobashy & Ghobashy 2005: 90 retroactively synonymised this taxon with H. dirampha ; see below].

Hydroides dirampha: Ben-Eliahu 1972a: 77 [ Egypt, Port Said, after Potts (1928)]; Zibrowius & Bitar 1981: 159–160 [ Lebanon, Beirut, Zaitouné, 5 m, 23.IX.1978, from bivalve]; Ghobashy 1984, table 1 [Alexandria, harbour, citing Selim (1978, see App. Table 4)]; Ben-Eliahu 1991b: 518 [ Israel]; El-Komi 1991a, b: table 3 [Alexandria, harbour]; Ben-Eliahu & ten Hove 1992: 40 [ Israel, entire coast from north to south, 0–24 m]; El-Komi 1992a, table 4 [Alexandria, harbour]; Ben-Eliahu & Fiege 1996: 33, 38 [Levant coast]; Selim 1997b: 90–91, figs 3a–f [Port Said, collected in 1988]; Zibrowius & Bitar 2003: 71 [ Lebanon]; Ghobashy & Ghobashy 2005: 90 [Alexandria, Eastern Harbour; a review article]; Çinar 2006: 226, fig. 3a–c [Levant coast of Turkey, Iskenderun Bay, Yumurtalık Harbour, Mersin Bay, IX.2005, 0.1– 3 m, on Pomatoleios kraussii tubes].

Suez Canal

Hydroides dirampha: Ben-Eliahu 1972a: 77 [misinterpretation of Potts (1928) who had in fact not reported this species from within the Suez Canal but only from Port Said and claimed it had not entered the canal (see below); Ghobashy 1984: 43, 45 [Lake Timsah]; Ghobashy et al. 1986: 319–326, fig. 2 [Lake Timsah]; Ghobashy et al. 1990: 677–685 [Lake Timsah]; Mona 1992: 244–261 [Lake Timsah]; Selim 1997b: 90–91, figs 3a–f [collected in 1988, El-Kab, Lake Timsah, Deversoir; for Lake Timsah citing Shalla (1985) and Mostafa (1992) see App. Table 4 for both references)]; Wehe & Fiege 2002: 126 [Suez Canal; list of references]; Emara & Belal 2004: 192–199 [pooled Lake Timsah and Bitter Lakes data]; Ghobashy & Ghobashy 2005: 90 [syn. H. lunulifera , Suez Canal record from Lake Timsah also citing Barbary (1992, see App. Table 4)]; Selim 2009: 73 [northern part of the canal, in El Cap].

Hydroides lunulifera: Emara & Belal 2004: 192–199 [synonym of H. dirampha (cited just above); authors kept separate abundance data for these synonyms].

Gulf of Suez

Hydroides dirampha: Selim 1997b: 90–91 , figs 3a–f [collected in 1988, Port Taufiq].

Material examined. Locations adjacent to the Suez Canal, Mediterranean side: Israel: 35 samples; one of these is the first sample from Israel, Haifa harbour, legit G. Haas, 22.III.1937, det. M.N. Ben-Eliahu, HUJ- Poly-867 (previously AN-II-84) — Egypt, Sinai: 4 samples, 0.3– 4–15 –[57–62] m, HUJ .— Egypt, Port Said, on buoy no. 723, Cambridge Expedition 13.XII.1924, det. F.A. Potts Hydroides lunulifera , redet. H. Zibrowius (1971: 706), confirmed M.N. Ben-Eliahu 1986, CUZM-AN. I.1930, 1 spec.

Suez Canal material reported herein: 13 samples, 100 specs, Cambridge Expedition 6.X–29.XII.1924, 1 “new” BM ( NH) sample: Toussoum: 1 spec. (see App. Table 2A, and see just below).— Beets’ Great Bitter Lake samples: ca. 6 samples with empty tubes tentatively attributed to Hydroides diramphus (not enumerated, see App. Table 2B).—Hebrew University-Smithsonian Expeditions, 1967–1973: 6 samples, 81 specs. Lake Timsah : SBE 7, 30 specs; SBE 8, 44 specs; Great Bitter Lake : SLC 67, 1 spec.; SLC 71, 1 spec.; SLC 3, 2 specs; SLC 117, 3 specs.— Great Bitter Lake “Yellow Fleet” Biofouling Samples, January 13–20, 1975: 3 subsamples, 3 specs; Bremerhaven dry dock, 18.VI. 1975, 7 m, 1 spec. with operculum still connected to partially decayed body— Lake Timsah , 1984, legit S.H. Shalla, det. H.A. ten Hove, ZMA V.Pol. 5001, 8 specs, tubes— El Tawan Beach, 10 / 19.XI.1988, legit S.B. Shazly, det. H.A. ten Hove, ZMA V.Pol. 3818, 3 specs .

Locations adjacent to the Suez Canal, Red Sea side, reported herein: Cambridge Expedition 6.X– 29.XII.1924, 1 “new” BM ( NH) sample from barge: Presumed Port Taufiq , 1 spec. (see App. Table 2A) .

Suez Canal depth and substrates: 0.3– 10 m; on algae, e.g., Digenea ; on sponge, on molluscs; on a mollusc from a barge; on bivalves, Brachidontes pharaoni s, Crenatula picta , Pinctada radiata ; on rocks; on artificial substrates: Encrusted tin can submerged in mud, rubber fenders and iron frames; ship fouling.

Colouration. Radioles of specimens from Lake Timsah with alternating white and brown banding, widest bands in middle of radiole.

Distribution. Circum(sub) tropical; port fouling species. E. Mediterranean. Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt.

Remarks. Origin apparently tropical western Atlantic Coast; Zibrowius (1973a) noted a first record of Hydroides diramphus from Naples in 1870 as its synonym, H. lunulifer ( Claparède, 1870: 181–182 pl. 31, fig. 3). Its first record from the Levant Basin, from 1924, was from the sample collected by the Cambridge Expedition from a buoy in Port Said ( Potts 1928: 701). Potts considered that Hydroides diramphus had not entered the Canal. However, in actuality, two additional samples of Hydroides diramphus had been collected, unknown to Potts, encrusted on the Cambridge Expedition molluscs that had been taken to the Natural History Museum in London and deposited in the Mollusc Section of the museum; they were found 62 years later during a visit to the Museum (by NBE) and are referred to above in the “Material examined” section as “new” Cambridge Expedition samples. One was from Toussoum (km 87) within the canal and the other from “Barge 568”, presumably from Port Taufiq. [Potts referred only to “barges” without specifying their number but specifically mentioned only Port Taufiq as a location for them; the precise date of collection is unknown (J. Pickering, pers. comm., see App. Table 2A)]. The first record of H. diramphus from within the Suez Canal is herein brought forward to 1924. It is likely that it was present among the dry Great Bitter Lake tubes collected later by C. Beets (1950); see Discussion and App. Table 2B, but taphonomic residues, enabling confirmation of our tentative identification of tubes, were not found. In 1973, H. diramphus appeared to be present in larger numbers in Lake Timsah than in the Great Bitter Lake, and there have been consistent records of it there in subsequent Egyptian fouling research (e.g., Ghobashy 1984, Shalla 1985, Ghobashy et al. 1986, Ghobashy et al. 1990 and Mona 1992). Selim (1997b) reported it in the five sites studied along the canal, i.e., in Port Said, El-Kab, Lake Timsah, Deversoir and Port Taufiq. Most of the present specimens had expanded T- or anchorshaped tips of the verticil spines and pointed chitinised tips of the funnel radii ( Fig. 4 ).

Bastida-Zavala & ten Hove (2003b: 84) described tubes of Hydroides diramphus from California and Hawaii as variable in form “having transversal ridges also with longitudinal ridges”… and sometimes with peristomes. Variability in form is also confirmed for the present material; tubes with three ridges appeared to be rarer than those with two, although the median ridge may be very difficult to see. Fig. 5A–C illustrates some variation in tube ornamentation in Hydroides diramphus . The tube in Fig. 5A is less rugose than the one in Fig. 5B that appears to be covered with a granular layer that could obscure surface sculpturing (i.e., could obscure a low median longitudinal ridge). Several tubes from the Mediterranean coast of Israel had three ridges so low that they could barely be seen with the water surface breaking at the level of the tube surface (these ridges were even lower than the median ridge figured in Fig. 5A).

Figures

FIGURE 4. Opercula of Hydroides diramphus. A—Operculum of small individual from Lake Timsah (sample SBE 8, App. Table 2C), B—Specimen from the Great Bitter Lake (legit H. Brattström & J.P. Taasen, 14.I.1975, App. Table 2D). Scales: 100 µm.