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Continued Spread of the seagrass Halophila stipulacea in the Caribbean: Documentation in Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands

2017; University of Southern Mississippi; Volume: 28; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.18785/gcr.2801.05

2572-1410

Héctor Ruiz, David L. Ballantine, Jorge Sabater,

Marine Ecology and Invasive Species

The geographical spread of Halophila stipulacea in the Caribbean since its first documentation in Grenada in 2001 has been impressive, as it has since been reported from most of the Caribbean. We now document its presence in the northern Caribbean at Culebra Island and in the Atlantic at a site between Humacao and Vieques Island, Puerto Rico. We further report the seagrass from Road Harbour, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. Spread of the invasive seagrass Halophila stipulacea is probably largely driven by Caribbean current patterns from its likely point of introduction in the southeast of the Caribbean basin. Continued spread into the Gulf of Mexico is seen as a likely occurrence.