Prevalence of the pathogenic crustacean virus Callinectes sapidus reovirus 1 near flow-through blue crab aquaculture in Chesapeake Bay, USA
Date
2018Journal
Diseases of Aquatic OrganismsPublisher
Inter-ResearchType
Article
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Understanding the ecology of diseases is important to understanding variability in abundance, and therefore management, of marine animals exploited commercially. The blue crab Callinectes sapidus fills a crucial benthic-pelagic niche in Atlantic estuarine ecosystems and supports large commercial fisheries in both North and South America. In the USA, pre-molt blue crabs are typically held in short-term shedding (ecdysis) facilities to produce soft-shell crabs of increased value. However, mortality rates in these facilities are high and commonly associated with the pathogenic C. sapidus reovirus 1 (CsRV1). To assess whether crab mortalities in these facilities might increase CsRV1 prevalence in wild crab populations, tissue sampled from crabs collected over 2 summers either near to or far from shedding facilities using flow-through water systems were tested by reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) for the presence of CsRV1 RNA. In support of our hypothesis, PCR data identified the probability of detecting CsRV1 in wild crabs sampled close to shedding facilities to be 78% higher than in crabs sampled from far sites. PCR detections were also 61-72% more probable in male crabs and 21% more likely in male and female crabs over the minimum landing size. As the prevalence at which CsRV1 was detected varied within seasons, among locations and between years, blue crab migration and/or population fluctuations appear to also be involved. Copyright The authors 2018.Sponsors
Acknowledgements. E.J.S. and E.M.F. received major funding from MD Sea Grant (NA10OAR4170072), and additional funding from NOAA S-K (NA15NMF4270296). E.M.F. was supported in part by Trish and Mike Davis. A.F.J. was supported by NSF grant DEB-1632648 (2016). We thank Bri-anne Walsh of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science for assistance with figures. We are very grateful for the indispensable cooperation of fishermen and soft crab producers in Deal Island and Crisfield, especially Linda Labo, Sam Insley, Hilda Marshall, and Dan Webster. We thank Mike Goodison, Paige Roberts, and Kim Richie at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center for field work and help with data collection.Identifier to cite or link to this item
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85049786267&doi=10.3354%2fdao03232&partnerID=40&md5=1cab8a9c3cdf4e703d84c1803a81a05e; http://hdl.handle.net/10713/8927ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.3354/dao03232