First record of Licnophora chattoni (Ciliophora, Spirotrichea) on the sabellid worm Bispira melanostigma from marina fouling communities

Epibiosis between ciliates and feather duster worms (Sabellidae) remains poorly known and has been documented in only four species, belonging to the genera Eudistylia , Laonome , Schizobanchia and Sabella . Licnophora is a genus of ciliates whose species live as epibionts on freshwater or marine organisms, involving algae, macrophytes and a wide range of marine animals from different phyla, including amongst them polychaete worms. The tubiculous polychaete Bispira melanostigma is here reported for the first time as a component of fouling communities on a dock piling in the southern Gulf of Mexico, extending its known ecological occurrence beyond corals reefs, sand and seagrasses beds of the Caribbean Sea. In addition, ciliated epibionts attached to the radioles are reported and identified as Licnophora chattoni , constituting the first documented epibiotic association between this licnophorid ciliate and a sabellid fan worm.