Comments: Notorious pest of fisheries and mariculture in Japan, where it competes with oysters for food and oxygen. An outbreak of this serpulid polychaete in Hiroshima Bay has caused the heavy economic loss to cultured oyster crops through fouling on their shells, estimated at ¥3 billion in 1969 (equivalent to ~¥10 billion today) (Arakawa, 1971; Link et al., 2009 and references therein).
References: Arakawa, K., 1971. Notes on a serious damage to cultured oyster crops in Hiroshima caused by a unique and unprecedented outbreak of a serpulid worm, Hydroides norvegica (Gunnerus) in 1969. Venus, 30, 75–81. [In Japanese with English abstract).
Link, H., Nishi, E., Tanaka, K., Bastida-Zavala, R., Kupriyanova, E. K., & Yamakita, T. (2009). Hydroides dianthus (Polychaeta: Serpulidae), an alien species introduced into Tokyo Bay, Japan. Marine Biodiversity Records, 2. doi:10.1017/s1755267209000931
Isabela Dos Santos Schwan, Ana Claudia Dos Santos Brasil, David Neves & Gustavo M. Dias (2015): The invasive worm Hydroides elegans (Polychaeta – Serpulidae) in southeastern Brazil and its potential to dominate hard substrata, Marine Biology Research, DOI: 10.1080/17451000.2015.1080370