The barnacles Chirona (Striatobalanus) amaryllis (Darwin 1854) and Megabalanus coccopoma (Darwin 1854) (Crustacea, Cirripedia): two invasive species new to tropical West African waters

Abstract

The collection of the barnacle Chirona (Striatobalanus) amaryllis (Darwin 1954) (Crustacea, Cirripedia) from the hull of a ship that had been operating for five months in the Gulf of Guinea and off Sierra Leone triggered a closer investigation of the cirriped fauna of the West African coast. Both C. amaryllis and Megabalanus coccopoma can now  be added to the list of successful invasions in tropical West African waters. This discovery, as well as the circumstances of the findings, necessitates an update of the invertebrate faunal inventory of tropical West African marine waters.

Keywords: Chirona amaryllis, Cirripedia, invasive aquatic species, Megabalanus coccopoma, tropical West Africa

African Journal of Marine Science 2010, 32(2): 265–268