Marine macroinvertebrates inhabiting marine debris

During a sampling campaign, we found many stranded marine debris along the coast. In many cases, these items were inhabited by many marine macroinvertebrates, among sessile species and other species that seemed to be entangled.

Fig. 1. Stranded red fishing net inhabited by marine macroinvertebrates

In this example (Figure 1), we found a quite large fishing net, having bivalves, gastropods, a crustacean and even an echinoderm.

Fig. 2. Ocypode occidentalis

Fig. 3. Semimytilus algosus

Fig. 4. Tetrapygus niger

These findings suggest a potential invasion of non-native species and invasive species to foreign marine ecosystems due to rafting.