Journal of Natural History Vol. 44, Nos. 25–28, July 2010, 1743–1753 ISSN 0022-2933 print/ISSN 1464-5262 online © 2010 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/00222931003624820 http://www.informaworld.com TNAH 0022-2933 1464-5262 Journal of Natural History, Vol. 1, No. 1, January 2010: pp. 0–0 Journal of Natural History Motile homes: a comparison of the spatial distribution of epibiont communities on Mediterranean sea turtles Journal of Natural History W.J. Fuller et al. W.J. Fuller a,b,c *, A.C. Broderick a , R. Enever d , P. Thorne e and B.J. Godley a a Faculty of Agriculture Sciences and Technology, European University of Lefke, Lefke, North Cyprus, Mersin 10, Turkey; b Centre for Ecology and Conservation, School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Penryn TR10 9EZ, UK; c Society for the Protection of Turtles in North Cyprus, PK 42, Girne, Mersin 10, Turkey, North Cyprus; d CEFAS Exeter, School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK; e School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Swansea SA2 8PP (Received 7 September 2009; final version received 13 January 2010) Understanding the ecological roles performed by an individual species requires knowledge from a wide range of disciplines; here we analyze the epibiont–host relationship found in marine turtles. During the study we recorded five new species of sea turtle epibiont: Laomedea flexuosa, Caprella fretensis, Hyale nilssoni, Hyale schmidti, Parasinelobus chevreuxi; as part of a total of nine zoolog- ical epibionts present on 35 female green turtles (Chelonia mydas) and 100 loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) nesting in Cyprus. The two most commonly occurring epibionts were acorn barnacles Chelonibia testudinaria and Chelonibia caretta, with larger specimens of both species recorded on loggerhead turtles. We analyzed the spatial distribution of these two barnacle species upon the carapaces of their hosts. Specimens of C. testudinaria situated on the anterior half of the carapace were larger than those located at the posterior. A significantly larger proportion of loggerhead turtles (52.5%) hosted epibionts in comparison to green turtles (30.3%). All non-barnacle epibionts were associated with either posterior algal mats or carapace scars. Keywords: epibiont; spatial distribution; barnacles; Caretta caretta; Chelonia mydas Introduction Most hard substrata in the oceans of the world become home to a wide variety of motile and static epibionts. However, some epibionts fasten themselves to mobile structures such as ships, flotsam and jetsam, and motile marine organisms (Wahl 1989), where movement effectively creates water flow, so aiding the gathering of nutrients. Many marine vertebrates such as whales and sea turtles provide significant motile substrata for the attachment of these epibionts (Monroe and Limpus 1979; Caine 1986; Frick and Slay 2000) with some individuals supporting abundant and diverse epibiont communities. Marine epibionts represent almost every invertebrate phylum and most of these are found on marine turtles. Over 90 epibiont species were found to be associated with female loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) nesting along the coast of Georgia, USA (Frick et al. 1998). *Corresponding author. Email: wfuller@seaturtle.org