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Barnacles Associated with Whales, Dolphins, Manatees, and Sea Turtles from the Puerto Rico Archipelago and Florida
Antonio A. Mignucci-Giannoni1,2,*, Jamilette Cintrón-de Jesús3, Carla I. Rivera-Pérez1,2, Gabriela S. Rivera-Tritsare1, and John D. Zardus4
1Caribbean Manatee Conservation Center, Inter American University of Puerto Rico, 500 Carretra John Will Harris, Bayamon, PR 00957, USA. 2The University of the West Indies, Faculty of Medical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago. 3The University of the West Indies, Faculty of Food and Agriculture, Departmnt of Food Production, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago. 4Department of Biology, The Citadel, 171 Moultrie Street, Charleston, SC 29409, USA. *Corresponding author.
Caribbean Naturalist, No. 86 (2022)
Abstract
Epizoic barnacles on marine megafauna encompass various species that maintain strict to moderate host specificity. For the megafaunal hosts, knowing what particular suites of epibionts accompany them can help define populations and offer insight into migration patterns for these often elusive and endangered organisms. Herein, we provide an inventory for Florida and the Puerto Rico archipelago of barnacles epizoic with marine mammals and reptiles compiled from ~4 decades of rescuing and salvaging debilitated and stranded cetaceans, manatees, and sea turtles from these regions. From 115 salvage or rescue cases, 11 barnacle species were identified. Two species of barnacles were opportunistic types, found attached to other barnacles epizoic with manatees. The remaining 9 were species that are obligate with 1 or several marine megafauna. One, Conchoderma auritum, was found attached only to the underlying shells of other epizoic barnacles, not to the megafaunal host itself. Two notable barnacle species were Coronula reginae from a Megaptera novaeangliae (Humpback Whale), documented in the northern hemisphere of the North Atlantic Ocean only once before, and the first report of Cylindrolepas darwiniana from manatees, otherwise known only from sea turtles. Larger-bodied hosts (whales), carried higher numbers of barnacles encompassing a maximum of 3 species, but barnacle diversity was higher on manatees and sea turtles (5 species each). The only barnacles occurring with a single host species in this data set were the 2 whale barnacles Coronula diadema and C. reginae from Humpback Whales. Noteworthy was the absence of the barnacle Xenobalanus globicipitis which otherwise is cosmopolitan with numerous delphinids. We did not find this barnacle with any of the 94 individuals of 10 dolphin species examined. The epizoic barnacle fauna of marine megafauna from Puerto Rico and Florida indicate a similar pattern of predominantly coastal habitat use for adult sea turtles, freshwater incursions by manatees in Florida but not Puerto Rico, and intermittent oceanic/neritic residence of cetaceans.
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