The Atlantic-Mediterranean bivalve, Corbula gibba (olivi) (corbulidae: myoidea) in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria

Established populations of the common European corbulid bivalve, Corbula (Varicorbula) gibba (Olivi, 1792) are recorded for the first time from Australia within Port Phillip Bay, Victoria. Aside from a tendency to exhibit pink radiating bands, the Victorian specimens are indistinguishable from typical French and British populations. The species appears to have been introduced to Australia sometime after the mid-1980's, as it was not recorded in benthic surveys of Port Phillip Bay up to 1972 or encountered by local collectors prior to 1983. Although we cannot identify the precise geographical origin of the Victorian population on morphological features, the recent plague-level outbreak of the polychaete Sabella spallanzanii in Port Phillip Bay suggests a Mediterranean origin. Presumably this species has been spread via release of ballast water