Crayfish plague pathogen in invasive North American crayfish species in Hungary

Abstract

In the study, we first time confirm presence of crayfish plague pathogen Aphanomyces astaci in Hungarian populations of American crayfish, which may host the parasite but usually do not die when infected. We employed molecular methods and detected infection in two populations of Orconectes limosus and in one population of Pacifastacus leniusculus.

Indigenous crayfish occurring in the vicinity of infected host populations are thus under the steady risk of mass mortalities caused by crayfish plague.

Keywords

• Aphanomyces astaci
• crayfish plague
• invasive American crayfish
• pathogen prevalence
• molecular detection