The invasive shrimp P macrodactylus in Argentina, actual distribution, intraspecific variation and parasitological status

MARTORELLI S. R.; BONEL N.; ALDA P.; MARCOTEGUI P.; MONTES MARTIN MIGUEL

Buenos Aires

Congreso; Marine of Freshwaters Invasive Species; Ecology, Impact & Management; 2016

CONICET

Palaemon macrodactylus is one of the widespread aquatic introduced species. Since its first report in Argentina we carry out new findings that considerably expanded the geographical range of this shrimp in Argentina to include estuarine areas on the South Atlantic Coast: Bahía Samborombón, and the Bahía Blanca and Río Negro estuaries. We reviewed this introduced species since nine years ago by the presence of parasites and possible pathogens. At the same time, we studied the morphological variations observed in shrimp from marine and estuarine waters in which they were recorded. We reported the epibiotic barnacle Balanus amphitrite and a helminth parasite, the microphallid metacercaria Odhneria sp. In 2009, some shrimps were found infected with White Spot Sindrome Virus (WSSV) from Bahia Blanca estuary. Unlike our first assumption that P. macrodactylus would keep its importance as a carrier of WSSV in Argentina, we found that in the five years following the discovery of WSSV, all shrimp studied were negative for this virus. In relation with intraspecific morphological differences between populations of P. macrodactylus inhabiting marine and estuarine environments we found a significant negative correlation between maximum size and salinity level. We observed intraspecific variation in size, weight, and size at sexual maturity between individuals from estuarine areas and those from other aquatic environments with higher salinity levels. Finally we compare the DNA barcoding of shrimp from marine (Mar del Plata) and estuarine (Bahia Blanca and Bahia Samborombon) areas with others COI sequence of P.macrodactylus availables in the GenBank.