Bugula neritina (Linnaeus, 1758)

(Fig. 15)

Sertularia neritina Linnaeus, 1758: 815 .

Bugula neritina: Lichtschein de Bastida & Bastida 1980: 380, fig. 6; Gordon & Mawatari 1992: 21, pl. 2G, 5F; Hayward & Ryland, 1998: 220, fig. 68; Giachetti et al. 2020: Table S1.

Material examined. MACN-In 43875, Comodoro Rivadavia harbour, April 25, 2019, collected by Mariana Abelando.

Description. See Lichtschein de Bastida & Bastida (1980).

Remarks. Molecular studies have found that B. neritina is a complex of cryptic species (McGovern & Hellberg 2003; Fehlauer-Ale et al. 2013) which still have not been assigned species names (McCann et al. 2019).

Distribution. One of the commonest members of fouling assemblages throughout the world, except in polar and subpolar regions (Gordon & Mawatari 1992). Widely recorded in harbours and marinas of Brazil, where it has been regarded as a non-indigenous species (Xavier et al. 2021). Its local distribution includes Mar del Plata, Belgrano (Lichtschein de Bastida & Bastida 1980), Puerto Madryn (Giachetti et al. 2020) and Comodoro Rivadavia (this study) harbours, as well as the Malvinas / Falkland Islands (Hastings 1943), where it is also regarded as a NIS (Schwindt et al. 2020).