Bryozoans are common fouling species present on ships and artificial substrates. A number of projects reporting the presence of bryozoans in Portugal have been carried out in recent years. As part of a field survey to examine and quantify the non-indigenous marine fouling species in several marinas in Portugal, we detected the bryozoan Celleporaria brunnea for the first time. The native range of C. brunnea seems to extend from British Columbia to the Galapagos, Ecuador. Our discovery indicates that this is the first record of C. brunnea across the East Atlantic and the first record of a species in this genus in the north-eastern Atlantic. The fouling nature of Celleporaria brunnea may have facilitated its spread to the western Pacific, the Mediterranean and now the eastern Atlantic from the Americas.

Caprella scaura is thought to come from the western Indian Ocean and was first recorded in the Atlanto-Mediterranean region in the Lagoon of Venice in 1994. Since then the species has rapidly spread throughout the Mediterranean Sea and it has recently been reported in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. The occurrence of C. scaura in two marinas in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, is discussed taking into account the possible pathways of introduction. The most likely vector of introduction is within the hull-fouling community on recreational craft. It may be expected to appear in other marinas within Macaronesia.

The ammotheid pycnogonid Ammothea hilgendorfi was first recorded outside its native range of the Pacific Ocean in 1978 in southern England and in the Lagoon of Venice in 1979 to 1981. Both occurrences are attributed to anthropogenic dispersion by shipping. Subsequently, it has spread further in the UK to Dorset and, most recently, to Essex. The world distribution of this species and the history of its occurrence outside the Pacific are reviewed, and hypotheses for its recent spread in the UK, via recreational boating, are presented.

Bryozoan assemblages developed on panels submerged at five marinas located along the Turkish Aegean coast were examined between September 1993 and March 1995. The settlement of bryozoan species at the marinas, which had different environmental conditions, showed significant differences. The most stressed marina (Station 1) was represented only by Bugula stolonifera. The colony numbers and the frequency values of some sheet forming species such as Schizoporella errata, Parasmittina sp. and Celleporaria sp. at Stations 3 and 4 increased with increasing the duration time of panels in the sea.