Invasion
Invasion Description
1st Record, Type locality- Corte Madera/CA/San Francisco Bay (1973, Chapman 1988);
Geographic Extent
Corte Madera/CA/San Francisco Bay (1973, Chapman 1988); Vallejo/CA/Mare Island Channel (1973, Chapman 1988); CA/Coyote Creek (1973, Chapman 1988); Benicia/CA/Carquinez Strait (1973, Chapman 1988); Sand Point, Palo Alto/CA/South San Francisco Bay (Chapman 1988); Grizzly Island, Solano County/CA/Grizzly Bay (Chapman 1988, Peterson et al. 2010, abundant in wet years); Tiburon/CA/San Francisco Bay (1983, Cohen and Carlton 1995); Rodeo/CA/San Pablo Bay (1983, Chapman 1988); China Camp/CA/San Pablo Bay (2005, Robinson et al. 2011); Point San Pablo/CA/San Pablo Bay (2007, Carr et al. 2011); CA/Richardson Bay 2007, Carr et al. 2011); Keller Beach/CA/Central San Francisco Bay (2007, Carr et al. 2011); Crown Beach/CA/South San Francisco Bay (2007, Carr et al. 2011); Bay Farm Island/CA/South San Francisco Bay (2007, Carr et al. 2011); Fresh-Brackish-Muddy (Delta, mean salinity 0.7 PSU) to Marine Muddy (South and Central Bays, mean salinity 27.5 PSU), highest abundance at Fresh-Brackish Transition (Suisun Bay, mean salinty 4.9 PSU, Lee et al. 2003)
Vectors
| Level | Vector |
|---|---|
| Probable | Ballast Water |
Regional Impacts
| Ecological Impact | Habitat Change | |
| In Suisun Slough, mucus from the tubes of C. alienense as well as the mucus produced by other native and introduced deposit feeding and tube-building benthos, contributes to a surface layer of flocculent fluff, which may trap much more phytoplankton than that actually consumed by the animals (Jones et al. 2009). | ||
| Ecological Impact | Herbivory | |
| Corophium alienense is a significant suspension-feeder in the benthos of Suisun Slough, and other brackish San Francisco Bay tributaries. Specific grazing rates for the population were estimated from those of the similar Atlantic amphipod C. volutator, as 9 m-3 . m-2 . day-1, for the populaiton about 15X higher than that of the Asian Brackish-Water Clam ( Corbula amurensis) population (Jones et al. 2009). This estimate makes it the major suspension-feeder in this part of the San Francisco estuary. | ||
| Ecological Impact | Food/Prey | |
| Tube-dwelling and free-living gammarid amphipods were important food items for several native (Tule Perch- Hysterocarpus traskii, Prickly Sculpin- Cottus asper, Starry Flounder- Platichthys stellatus) and introduced fishes (Acanthogobius longimanus, Yellowfin Goby) (Feyrer et al. 2003). | ||