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| NAS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species |
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Common Name: mud worm
Synonyms and Other Names: Polydora ligni (Blake and Maciolek 1987).
Taxonomy: available through 
Identification: A description and photograph of this species appeared in Meinkoth (1981:428 and plate 269) under the name Polydora ligni.
Size: 25 mm x 2 mm (Meinkoth 1981)
Native Range: Marine to salinities of 5 ppt. Entire East Coast(Meinkoth 1981).
Nonindigenous Occurrences: California (Meinkoth 1981). Coos Bay, Oregon (Carlton 1989). A population in Tampa Bay, Florida, has been found to be genetically unique is is believed to be introduced (Carlton 1985).
Means of Introduction: Commercial oyster plantings on the west coast (Carlton 1989). Most likely ballast water in Tampa Bay, but other possibly means include ship fouling or with oyster introductions (Carlton 1985).
Status: Established. Common.
Impact of Introduction: These worms are sometimes so abundant that they bury the oysters in several inches of mud tubes (Gosner 1978; Meinkoth 1981).
Remarks: This is one of the most frequently reported free-living species (Gosner 1978).
References
Blake, J.A. and N.J. Maciolek. 1987. A redescription of Polydora cornuta Bosc (Polychaeta:Spionidae) and designation of a neotype. Biol. Soc. Wash. Bull. No. 7: 11-15.
Carlton, J.T. 1985. Transoceanic and interoceanic dispersal of coastal marine organisms: The biology of ballast water. Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Ann. Ref. 23:313-371.
Carlton, J.T. 1989. Man's role in the changing face of the ocean: biological invasions and implications for conservation of near-shore environments. Conservation Biology 3(3):265-273.
Gosner, K.L. 1978. A Field Guide to the Atlantic Shore. The Peterson Field Guide Series. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA. 329 pp.
Meinkoth, N.A. 1981. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Seashore Creatures. Alfred A. Knopf., New York, NY. 813 pp.
Author: Pam Fuller and Danny O'Connell
Revision Date: 5/1/2003 Citation for this information:
Pam Fuller and Danny O'Connell. 2009. Polydora cornuta. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL.
<http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.asp?speciesID=1183> Revision Date: 5/1/2003
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