Preliminary Surveys of the Commensal Amphipod, Leucothoe Spinicarpa (Abildgaard, 1789), in the colonial tunicate, Ecteinascidia thurstoni Herdman, 1891, in the Andaman Sea, Thailand

Abstract

Amphipods identified as, Leucothoe spinicarpa (Abildgaard, 1789), were found in the colonial tunicate, Ecteinascidia thurstoni Herdman, 1891, at 1-3 m depth, within a single coral reef area on the coast of the Andaman Sea of Phuket Province in southern Thailand. This represents the first record of commensalism between this amphipod and tunicate in Thai waters. Hostsymbiont occurrences were low, with only 2.2% of all tunicate zooids harboring L. spinicarpa, and always with a single amphipod per zooid. All L. spinicarpa occurred in the branchial chamber of the tunicate and included female and male specimens. Amphipods found in the tunicates ranged between 0.4-2.1 mm in length.