Lipták B, Mojžišová M, Gruľa D, Christophoryová J, Jablonski D, Bláha M, Petrusek A, Kouba A. 2017. Slovak section of the Danube has its well-established breeding ground of marbled crayfish
Procambarus fallax f.
virginalis.
Knowledge and Management of Aquatic Ecosystems 418: 40.
https://doi.org/10.1051/kmae/2017029
Abstract
Established populations of the non-indigenous parthenogenetically reproducing marbled crayfish
Procambarus fallax f.
virginalis have been recently reported from various European countries. The colonised sites are usually lentic and relatively isolated from major watercourses and in such cases the immediate threat of the spread of this taxon is limited. Here we report on a marbled crayfish population that is likely to become a seed for colonisation of the Danube in Slovakia. It is located in a channel within the Slovak capital Bratislava in the immediate vicinity of a pumping station that occasionally releases significant amounts of water into the side arm of the Danube. The population is well established with a high growth potential: numerous adult marbled crayfish individuals were observed at the site in September and October 2016 and the progeny (eggs or first two developmental stages) of 27 berried females exceeded 11 000 individuals. The maximum observed fecundity per female reached 647 juveniles in the second developmental stage. The Danube side arm downstream of the pumping station harbours a population of spiny-cheek crayfish
Orconectes limosus infected with the crayfish plague pathogen
Aphanomyces astaci. We presume that marbled crayfish is already present below the pumping station and it is just a matter of effort and time until it is discovered. The investigated specimens of marbled crayfish were found free of
A. astaci, but horizontal transmission from infected spiny-cheek crayfish may be expected, as well as further spread of marbled crayfish in the Danube.
Keywords:
pet trade • aquatic invasion • fecundity • asexual reproduction • Slovakia
