Violet tunicate (Botrylloides violaceus) - Aquatic Invasive Species Program - Newfoundland and Labrador Region

AIS NL Biofouling Species

Fisheries and Oceans Canada's (DFO) National Marine Biofouling Monitoring Program conducts annual field surveys to monitor the introduction, establishment, spread, species richness, and relative abundance of native and some non-native species in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) Region since 2006. Standardized monitoring protocols employed by DFO's NL, Maritimes, Gulf, and Quebec regions include biofouling collector plates deployed from May to October at georeferenced intertidal and shallow subtidal sites, including public docks, and public and private marinas and nautical clubs. Initially, (2006-2017), the collectors consisted of three 10 cm by 10 cm PVC plates deployed in a vertical array and spaced approximately 40 cm apart, with the shallowest plate suspended at least 1 m below the surface to sample subtidal and shallow intertidal species (McKenzie et al 2016a). Three replicate arrays were deployed at least 5 m apart per site. Since 2018, collector networks have been modified to improve statistical replication, including up to 10 individual collectors deployed per site at 1 m depth and at least 5 m apart (as above) from May to October. Since 2006, seven invasive biofouling organisms have been detected in Newfoundland and Labrador harbours, marinas and coastal areas.

Should be cited as follows: DFO Newfoundland and Labrador Region Aquatic Invasive Species Marine Biofouling Monitoring Program. Published March 2024. Coastal and Freshwater Ecology, Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Centre, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Reference:

Tunicates

Violet tunicate (Botrylloides violaceus) 2007

The violet tunicate was first detected in NL waters in 2007 in Belleoram, Fortune Bay on wharf structures and vessels (McKenzie et al. 2016b). This colonial tunicate forms irregular shaped colonies usually of a solid color (orange, purple, yellow or cream). It is currently found in relatively small colonies in four harbours in NL; Placentia Bay (1), Fortune Bay (1), Conception Bay (1) and the west coast of NL (2). The data provided here indicates the detections of this AIS in coastal NL.

From 2018-2022, the Coastal Environmental Baseline Program provided additional support to enhance sampling efforts in Placentia Bay.

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• Environment
• Form Descriptors
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• Marine biology
• Nature and Environment
• Oceans
• Science and Technology

Additional Info

• Maturity Level 1 (54%)
• Maturity Level 2 (38%)
• Maturity Level 3 (0%)
• Maturity Level 4 (0%)
• Maturity Level 5 (0%)
• Maturity Level 6 (0%)

Field	Value
Last Updated	October 20, 2025, 02:09 (UTC)
Created	October 20, 2025, 02:09 (UTC)
Domain / Topic Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.	Biota, Environment, Geoscientific Information, Location, Oceans
Title Title for the Dataset.	Violet tunicate (Botrylloides violaceus) - Aquatic Invasive Species Program - Newfoundland and Labrador Region
Description A description of the dataset.	AIS NL Biofouling Species Fisheries and Oceans Canada's (DFO) National Marine Biofouling Monitoring Program conducts annual field surveys to monitor the introduction, establishment, spread, species richness, and relative abundance of native and some non-native species in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) Region since 2006. Standardized monitoring protocols employed by DFO's NL, Maritimes, Gulf, and Quebec regions include biofouling collector plates deployed from May to October at georeferenced intertidal and shallow subtidal sites, including public docks, and public and private marinas and nautical clubs. Initially, (2006-2017), the collectors consisted of three 10 cm by 10 cm PVC plates deployed in a vertical array and spaced approximately 40 cm apart, with the shallowest plate suspended at least 1 m below the surface to sample subtidal and shallow intertidal species (McKenzie et al 2016a). Three replicate arrays were deployed at least 5 m apart per site. Since 2018, collector networks have been modified to improve statistical replication, including up to 10 individual collectors deployed per site at 1 m depth and at least 5 m apart (as above) from May to October. Since 2006, seven invasive biofouling organisms have been detected in Newfoundland and Labrador harbours, marinas and coastal areas. Should be cited as follows: DFO Newfoundland and Labrador Region Aquatic Invasive Species Marine Biofouling Monitoring Program. Published March 2024. Coastal and Freshwater Ecology, Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Centre, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Reference: Tunicates Violet tunicate (Botrylloides violaceus) 2007 The violet tunicate was first detected in NL waters in 2007 in Belleoram, Fortune Bay on wharf structures and vessels (McKenzie et al. 2016b). This colonial tunicate forms irregular shaped colonies usually of a solid color (orange, purple, yellow or cream). It is currently found in relatively small colonies in four harbours in NL; Placentia Bay (1), Fortune Bay (1), Conception Bay (1) and the west coast of NL (2). The data provided here indicates the detections of this AIS in coastal NL. From 2018-2022, the Coastal Environmental Baseline Program provided additional support to enhance sampling efforts in Placentia Bay.
Tags / Keywords Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.	Environment Form Descriptors Geographic data Geographic... Marine biology Nature and Environment Oceans Science and Technology
Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc) File format of the dataset.
Dataset Size Dataset size in megabytes.
Metadata Identifier Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
Published Date Published date of the dataset.	2024-01-01
Time Period Data Span (start date) Start date of the data in the dataset.
Time Period Data Span (end date) End date of time data in the dataset.
GeoSpatial Area Data Span A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.

Field	Value
Access category Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
License License used to access the dataset.	Open Government Licence - Canada
Limits on use Limits on use of data.
Location Location of the dataset.	https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/725bbdc1-b673-4557-98a9-b59cc161d2e7
Data Service Data service for accessing a dataset.
Owner Owner of the dataset.	Fisheries and Oceans Canada | Pêches et Océans Canada
Contact Point Who to contact regarding access?	Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada, [email protected]
Contact Point Email The email to contact regarding access?
Publisher Publisher of the dataset.
Publisher Email Email of the publisher.	[email protected]
Author Author of the dataset.
Author Email Email of the author.
Accessed At Date the data and metadata was accessed.

Field	Value
Identifier Unique identifier for the dataset.
Language Language(s) of the dataset
Link to dataset description A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
Persistent Identifier Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
Globally Unique Identifier Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
Contains data about individuals Does the data hold data about individuals?
Contains data about identifiable individuals Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
Contains Indigenous Data Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
Portal Type Platform type of the source portal.

Field	Value
Version Version of the datatset	None
Source Source of the dataset.	None
Version notes Version notes about the dataset.
Is version of another dataset Link to dataset that it is a version of.
Other versions Link to datasets that are versions of it.
Provenance Text Provenance Text of the data.
Provenance URL Provenance URL of the data.
Temporal resolution Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
GeoSpatial resolution in meters Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
GeoSpatial resolution (in regions) Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.

Field	Value
Indigenous Community Permission Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
Community Permission Community permission (who gave permission).
The Indigenous communities the dataset is about Indigenous communities from which data is derived.

Field	Value
Number of data rows If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
Number of data columns If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
Number of data cells If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
Number of data relations If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
Number of entities If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
Number of data properties If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
Data quality Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
Metric for data quality A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.

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