Little is known or documented on the status of marine invasive species in the Caribbean beyond a few instances (e.g. Perna viridis – green mussel). Indeed, a 2003 compilation listed of 552 invasive species in the insular Caribbean, only 18 of which were marine (Kairo et al., 2003*). The authors speculated that this was at least in part because technological advances facilitating the reporting of marine species (e.g. improvements in diving equipment) were recent. In addition, there was often difficulty in determining whether newly reported marine species were introduced aliens or merely native species that had formerly gone unobserved. It was concluded that there was a gap in knowledge regarding the status of introduced organisms in the marine environment, and the threat that these may constitute.
For more visit the website of the Caribbean Environment Programme: http://www.cep.unep.org/publications-and-resources/marine-and-coastal-issues-links/invasive-species
