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The invasive Asian Green Mussel, Perna viridis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Bivalvia: Mytilidae), breeds in Trinity Inlet, tropical northern Australia

HEATH STAFFORD 1 , RICHARD C. WILLAN 2, 4 AND KERRY M. NEIL 3
1 25 Battams Rd, Royston Park, South Australia 5070, Australia. E-mail: heath.stafford@yahoo.com.au
2 Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, GPO Box 4646, Darwin, Northern Territory 0801, Australia.
3 Reef and Rainforest Research Centre, Cairns, PO Box 1762, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia. E-mail: kerry.neil@rrrc.org.au
4 To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: richard.willan@nt.gov.au

In August (dry season) of 2001, the Asian Green Mussel, Perna viridis (Linnaeus, 1758), was found in high densities on the hull of a foreign vessel moored within Trinity Inlet, northern Queensland, Australia. Surveys conducted between late 2001 and July 2003 in response to this invasive marine pest detected mussels on other floating structures throughout the Inlet, indicating at least one spawning and successful recruitment event had taken place in the Inlet between 2001 and 2003. At the completion of surveys in July 2003, a total of 40 recruits with a range of 30.1 mm to 161.0 mm shell length (mean 95.0 mm shell length) had been recovered from the Inlet. At least four additional recruits from this Trinity Inlet population are known to have been translocated to Innisfail 90 km south of Cairns on the hull of a yacht during this period.

Key words: Introduced marine species, pest, breeding, indigenous, non-indigenous, Bivalvia, Mytilidae, Asian Green Mussel, Perna viridis

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