Pacific Science (1998),"'01..52, no.

2; 170-175

© 1998 b:y University of Ha.wa.i"iPress. AnI right;; reserved

Coral Borell'S of the Eastern Pacific: A,~pidosiphQn (A.) elegans (SipoDcllIla:

As,idosi.phlilnida.e) and JJomaiog,ebia rugosa (Crustacea: . pogebiidae) I

ANA C. FONSECA E. AND JORGE CORffis2

ABSTRACT: This i the first report of the sipun ulan .AspidMip.lllm: ,(k'pi'dosipho',,) ei'egalls (Chamissc & Eysenhardt, 18:21) in me tropical eastern Pacific .. With this species the number of coral borers rises to lS, for this region. The u,pogebiidid c:~usta.ceWl Pmnatogebia rugosa (Locking ton, 1878 was reported previously (as Upogebia I"ugosa) from COla I colonies in the Gulf of California, Mexico, and from coral reefs of Golfo Dulce, COSI:ai R iea; the matter represented a southward nmge extension of approximately 30500 km. Subsequently, P .. ru~ gO:Sll was recorded from branches ,of Pociliopora corals in Colombia, extending the range fartiler southward. In om study, both species were extracted [{IO:m celonies of [he mA!>sive coral Po riles lobat« Dana from Golfo Dulce, southern Pacjfic coast of Costa Rica, Aspidol'iphml (A.) etegan~y ranged in length from I 'to 20 mmand was, present :in a density as. high as 300 individuals per 1000 em;}, PomaJogebia rugosa was present in 14% of the colonies examined and was responsible for 0.6 .:. (J.35~!" of the CaCO~ rem.ove4 at one si tein Golfo Dulce; at. another site it was present in. 33% of the colonies and was responsible for 2 . .5 ± 2.22% of tlte CaCO) removed. P. rugos« was found living in pair in ide live coral colonies of Pontes iobata, in branched tunnels about 2.5 rum in diameter and lined with mud, Bioerosion caused by these two species, of borers in the eastern Pacific isminimal compared with that caused by sea urchins and boring bsvalves.

SIXtEEN (X)RAit.~OORP.R SPEClliS from three different phyla (Mollusca, Crustacea, and Perifem) have been reported from the eastern Pacific' (Table 1). However, m.any sponges and polychaeta, and other organisrns extraded from coral colonies, are still unidentified,. In some ea tern Pacific cora] reefs (e.g .. Panama, the Galapagos, and Cocos Island), external bioeroders (mainly sea urchins) arc' more important than borers

I Thi· ~tlJd)" W8,S made possible by the financial suppan Df'the Vieer.reel.oria d~ hW,"stigadoIL, Um¥el1lidlld !Ill' C~!.a Rica and tile Cllnsojo' Nacienal de UIVes:!igaei(mes C~enli~ yTel.7nolo,pClls (CONICTT . This is 1I contributioll r th~ Museo de ZooJogia. E:5Cuela, de Biologia .• and Centro de Investiga.ci6n ()1Ili Cienc:ias del Mar y Lirnnoiogja (ClMA"R). Umvl'lrsidad de C0il1i1 lRiCIIL M~lUllCript accepted! 4 October 1996.

~CTMAR and Museo de Z:ool~ogi<l, Esc~i!l de Biol()giru, Unwersidad de COSI!! Rica. Sa~ Pedro, Costa Rica.

(Glynn et al, 1979. Glynn '1988, Eakin 1992, Guzman and Cortes 1992, Reaka-Kudla et at 1996). In other locililities such as Go,lfo Dulce and Cafio Island in Costa Rica, internal b ioerosi 0:0 , caused primanly by Lithophag;a spp., is more im portant - Soon et al, 19;88, Guzman and Cortes 1989, Cortes 1991, 1992}. Borers are responsible for internalbioerosioa ranging. from 8.3to 9.5 kg/m2 per YI: (,GlynlJ! 198:8. Eakin 1992 1996), but this rate is probably not constant over time and may vaT)' bel ween reefs in the same area, as demonstrated in other regions (Hutehmgs 1986).

Intbis pa.per we report for the first lime the presence of the sipunculan subgenus Aspidosip!zoll A.Tpidosiphon) in the eastern Pacific, This increases the number or known coral- borer species for this region to 18 .. We also eonfimi the' southward range extension of the crustacean I'omawge:bia rugr'lS{l' (Loekington, 18i8) in the eastern Pacific.

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172

PACIFIC SCIENCE, Volli!me 52. April L99a

F10UKIl l.M.~,p of Costa Rica with .Indlcanon of SliItllp'ling ~lWl~ Ma~) in Golfo Dulce ..

MATERJALS AND METHODS

fifty-five live colonies of Porites Zobata Dana, 1846 were collected at Punta 1'slotes (8° 43/ 41.2!1 N.. 8.3" 23' 8.41! W), Golfo Dulce, southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica (Figure I), between 19'87 and 1989.

Th colonies were cut into slabs with a rock saw, and the central slab was x-rayed, Tbe percentage' area, removed by the different borers was determined with a planimeter from prints (fctlowing the method of Hein and Risk '[19"15]). TIle percentage of colonies infested was determined by the presence or absence of Pomatogeb.in rugosa excavations in til coral slab.

Six coral flGagHIGuts (appIO:ximatelylOOO em) each) of Porites lobata were collected at Sandalo (8D 34' 35" N 83<> 20' 15" W); southem shore o,j Gollo Dulce, ill January 1993., Each coral fragmetn was rinsed willi freshwater and decalcified, following Brock and Brock (1977), The remaining fauna was sorted from the organic matrix, fixed in .5%,

formaliain seawater. identifioo. counted, and stored in 70% alcohol. The volume of each block was determined by covering it with adherible plastic wrap and then submerging in water; the displaced water was measured, Density of A.spidosiphon elegans was calculated for 1000 6m3,

.RESUI..;'r;s Asp.idosip/ron (AspidosipJlOn) elegons (Ohamisso .& Eyseuhardt, 1821)

(Sipuncula: Aspidosiphoniformes: Aspidosjphonid~e)

PlUNIOUSRANGE: The subgenus Aspidosiphon Aspido:fiiphon} is widespread and commoll, in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans from south-central Japan to northern Ausualia and from Hawai'i to ~he Red Sea, III the: Caribbean. it is present from north em :Brazil to the Florida Keys and Ber-

Two Species of Coral Borers- 'FON£ECA AND Cmnlis

rnuda. AspiliO:'liplzoil' (Aspidos-rphtm.) spp. live in dead coral and soft rocks in shallQw wate-rs (Cutle'l" 1994),

:NEW J!..t(NGE: We collected specimens, or A.

A.) ,elegafls ,at Sandalo and Islotes (Figure 1), which represents an addition to the sipuncuIan fauna at the subgeneric level for the eastern Pacific .. These and other llthocryptobionts were extracted from dead coral colorues of Poriies (obara. At Siindalo and Moles, 9'2% and 83% of the colonies, respectively, were 'infested len = (2), Sipuneulans were 1 to 10 mm in length and Were present OIl a density of 300 individuah; pet 1000' 'OOlJ. The species was identified by Edward Culler and Harlan K. Dean] and voucher :specimens, wert deposited in the sipuneulaa collections, of the Musco de Zoologia> Eseuela de Binlogia, Univeraidad de' Costa Rica (ucR42). and a~ the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ). Harvard University.

COMMENTS: The phylum SipuucuJa (peanu; worms) Includes 11 genera and 141 species. AspidosipJIt:m (Aspidosiphon) is the most common and widespread tropical subgellus (Cutler 1994). Cutler el al, (1992) identified nme species in, seVen genera from COS~ Rica andreported that A. (ParaspidQsiphon) purvulus was fOUlld inside cora] colonies from Cahuita, a Caribbean reef. With our report the Costa Rican sipuneulan fauna is raised to 1 0 species.

Pomatogebia 11IgO$a (Lockington, 1878) (Crustacea: Thalassaioideai.Upogebiidae)

RANGE: Tills species was recorded as, Upogebiu rugosa' from Bahia Agua Verde" Puerto Escondido" in jhe Mar de Cortez, Mexico (2S~ 31' N. ] LOD 02' W) ill 1940 during, the Velero lIT expedi'nlo:l:l. It lives im.side coral 00,1- oales (Williams 19:8,6). Cortes (199~. 1992) reported the presence of O. "'R.osa in coral reefs of Gollo Dulce, Co' ta Rica (Figure I). He found, low mnnbers of colo rues infested (14% of 'the total analyzed, n = 25) and low CaC03 removal, (0 .. 6 ± 0.35%) at Sandalo; and higher val ues infestation of 13% of me colonies (11 = 30. and CaCOl removal of

173

2.5 + 2.22% at Punta Islotes, Cortes' report repre:senLedia southward range 'extension of approximately 3500 km, Later, Lernaitre and Ramos (1992) recorded P. rugosa from. branches of Pocillopora corals in Colombia, again extending the rnnge southward. In the study reported here we found the species.!U Sandalo, southern shore of Golfo Dulce (Figure 1 . in 60% of colonies (n = 5) of the massive coral Porites loba.ta at 6 m depth. We found 110 infestation in colonies collected at :3 m depth (/I '=' 7) at Sandalo' nor in any of the samples collected from Islotes northern snore or Golfo Dulce (Figure 1). H was found] liviag in pairs inside live coral colonies of Porites Inbata. in branched tunnels about 2.5 nun in diameter tna1 are lined with mud. Specimens were identified by Austin Williams and, deposited .in the' crustacean collection of the Museo' de Zoologia, Esenela de Biologia, Uruversidad de Costa Rica (nCR 1770).

OOMMEl'ffll: Williams and Ngoc-Ho (1990) proposed the new genus Pomawge.bia for three species of thalassinidean s,ltrim,ps previously placed in Upogebia: .P. rugosa and P. cocosia from the eastern :Pacmc and P: ()P(!~ ctllalafrom the westem Atlantic. These species are specialized for burrowing into massive stony corals. They cliffe]" from related shrimps in the region 'in their carapace, aptpendages, and in. the caudal section of [he abdomen wbj'ch 'is shaped like. an operculum and blocks the entrance '10 the burrow sysiern f'rom the inside, The operculum sun ace mimics tha I of the coral (W:illiams and Ngoc-Ho ] 990).

DISCUSSION

The Galapagos Islands, Cano Island. and Panama are thesires in the eastern Pacific. wlt:h the most identified borer species, especially bivalves and sponges: (Table I)_ Of the 18 species reported, three species (Lil/ioplmga artstata L. phlmula. and L. auenuata .liFe reported from most- of the eastern Pacific". Four species are endemic to the eastern P:ac:ific (LifJwp.haga auenuato, Gastrodmena ruglllO'sa. Pmnmog.ebia rugosa. P. coco.ria).

174

All the sponges arc also present in the IndoPacific and Mediterranean Sea, (Scott el at 1988,)., LilllOphaga arl:~taU1.haS3 cosmopolitan d,istriolJtion (Keen ]'91,IJ. and l.eiosoienll.f iaevigata is distributed aCTOSS the whole Indo-Pacific (Kleemann 1980). Sipuncldans are also widely distributed (Cutler 1'994).,

III thi paper we report the presence IOf the sipunculan A Jpido.riphmr (Aspidosiphon) elegarlS for memn lime and C:OI::mITll _ the distribution of the crustacean POmato,gebiCl rugO!~G 1n the eastern Pacific, Their role 'in bioerosion is minorcompared with that of sea urchins and boring bivalves inthis region. With this reportr the list of internal bioereders of {he' eastern Pacific increases to 18 species (Table' I). As more studies are carried out in this region" Inc lUI_mOOr of bioeroders wiU probably increase.

ACK.~QW l.EDGMENTS

We thank E. Cutler and H. K. DeaII for identification of the sipunculan. and A. S. Wmiams for idemificatioa of the crustacean. The manu.'lCri,pt benefited from the cotnments of three anonymous reviewers.

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