[Coral-List] Exotic vs. Invasive.

[Judith Lang]

Hi John,
And from long before we even knew that the azooxanthellate Tubastrea coccinea is not indigenous to the Caribbean area, I have been astounded at how many times its photo is the token example of a reef coral in biology text books and magazine articles!
Judy Lang
AGRRA Scientific Coordinator

On Feb 15, 2013, at 11:26 AM, John Ware wrote:

> Dear List,
> 
> Ken Marks recent post concerning Tubastraea micranthus reminded me of an 
> incident that occurred on a recent trip to Bonaire.  A divemaster was 
> bemoaning the "invasion" of lionfish.  When I mentioned that the "poster 
> coral" for Bonaire (Tubastraea sp) was invasive, I was severely 
> chastised.  Lionfish were "invasive", Tubastraea was "exotic".
> 
> I noted that Ken Marks used both "exotic" and "invasion" in his e-mail. 
> I had never thought about the distinction before.
> 
> After Googling around a bit, I concluded that if the species under 
> consideration was sort of cute, it was "exotic".  If it was ugly, it was 
> "invasive".  
> 
> While that is a vast oversimplification, I wonder if the coral-reef 
> community distinguishes "exotic" from "invasive" and, if so, is there a 
> precise definition of the difference?
> 
> John
> 
> -- 
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