Abstract

Artificial incubation has been widely used for production of presumably disease free crayfish juveniles for stockings in Finland. We investigated the possibility of vertical transfer of crayfish plague (Aphanomyces astaci) from infected broodstock females to eggs and juveniles via artificially incubated eggs. Samples were collected from berried signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus Dana) with clear symptoms of crayfish plague infection. Eggs stripped from these females were incubated separately in an artificial incubator (Hemputin) in addition to newly hatched and one summer-old juveniles. The artificially incubated material was tested for crayfish plague using a new chitinase-PCR method. The results confirmed that the berried females and eggs were infected and crayfish plague infection was evident from juveniles. The results of this study indicated that crayfish plague could be transferred vertically from infected broodstock females to juveniles via the artificial incubation method. The production of diseased stocking material, and its subsequent release into the wild, has serious implications for crayfish stocks due to the potential spread of plague. These preliminary results point to a need for further study of vertical transfer of diseases during artificial incubation of crayfish.

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