First records of hydroid epibionts on the introduced macroalga Gracilariaparvispora in the Mexican Pacific.
María A Mendoza-BecerrilPaulina Murillo-TorresElisa Serviere-ZaragozaKarla León-CisnerosAlejandra Mazariegos-VillarrealJuan Manuel López-VivasJosé AgüeroPublished in: Biodiversity data journal (2024)
in the Gulf of California. The sizes of the collected thalli were mostly under 7.0 cm, the maximum number of taxa per thallus was three and the thallus region containing the highest number of epibionts was in the middle. Significant differences were observed amongst the lengths of thalli with and without epibionts. The thalli with epibionts were larger than the thalli without epibionts. Similarly, significant differences were observed amongst the months. The pair-wise test revealed that each month exhibited distinctive epibiont taxa when compared to the others. This study highlights the lack of information on these associations. Further research is needed to understand whether introduced macroalgae can bring non-native epibiont species to an area.
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