Attached
Sea ports are well known as entry points for non-indigenous species invasions. With
increased ship traffic, Colombo Port environs are highly susceptible for such
invasions by geographically distinct species from around the globe posing threats to
the native biota and associated ecosystems. The community composition of the
invasive species including the biofouling taxa within the Colombo Port and their
impacts on native taxa, if any, are poorly understood. Therefore, an assessment on
the biofouling community within die Colombo Port is imperative for the protection
of our native coastal communities. Biofouling assemblages in 7 sampling locations
(i.e. Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT); New Pilot Station (NPS);
Old Pilot Station (OPS); Passenger Jetty (PJ); Bandaranayake Quay (BQ);
Dockyard Berth (DOCB); Unity Container Terminal (UCT)) within the Colombo
Port was investigated horn October 2014 to July 2015. The biofouling aggregates
were collected through artificial settlement collectors deployed at 1 tn, 2 m, 3 m and
4 m depths respectively in each location, where monthly samples were collected by
replacing 2 months old settlement plates with clean plates, from one side of the
collector at each depth. In the laboratory, specimens were identified to the nearest
possible taxonomic category using their fine morphological features. Altogether, 55
species belonging to 8 taxonomic groups, i.e Biyozoa, Annelida, Chordata,
Mollusca, Arthropoda, Porifera, Cnidaria and Echinodermata were recorded.
Among the species recorded, Molluscs were die most diverse group that represented
20 species followed by Annelids 8 species, Bryozoans 9 species, Chordates 5
species, Arthropods 9 species, Poriferans 2 species and 1 species each from
Cnidaria and Echinodermata. According to the General Linear Model for species
richness, depth, sampling locations and species group, there was a significant __
difference for species richness with respect to depth, location and species group :
(p<0.05). The highest species richness was recorded at PJ (34) followed by NPS
(33), BQ (32), OPS (31), DOCB (28), UCT (28) and CICT (22).The species
richness of fouling community increased with the increasing depth and reached to
the maximum at 3 m and thereafter decreases with increasing depth
