Kappaphycus alvarezii (Rhodophyta): New Record of an Exotic Species for the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica

Abstract

Kappaphycus alvarezii, a red macroalgal \nspecies native to South-East Asia, has been introduced for commercial purposes \nto more than 20 tropical countries. In 2000, Panama became the first Central \nAmerican country to develop its cultivation following a pilot-commercial approach. Twelve years after his \nintroduction to Panama, the species was found to the south Caribbean coast. In \nthe present study, we report the first record of K. alvarezii collected in \nCosta Rican waters. Genetic identification of the sample was performed with the \nmitochondrial marker cox2-cox3 intergenic spacer, and phylogenetic analyses \nshowed that the sample collected grouped into a monophyletic clade with GenBank \nsequences from Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brazil and Venezuela. Here \nwe provide further description of its position with respect to other strains of K. alvarezii collected \nglobally. Its possible route of \nentry to the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica is discussed. To date, it is \npossible to locate K. alvarezii in different areas away from \nthe production fields which show its dispersion, and that the species is \nexpanding; but more studies are needed to know the phase of colonization in \nwhich it is located because it is a combination of natural factors and human \nexploitation that determines the invasive potential of the species.