Crayfish of Romania

Taxonomy

Kingdom Animalia
Subkingdom Eumetazoa
Phylum Arthropoda
Subphylum Crustacea
Class Malacostraca
Subclass Eumalacostraca
Superorder Eucarida
Order Decapoda
Suborder Pleocyemata
Infraorder Astacidea
Family Cambaridae

Conservation status

not rated

Procambarus virginalis Lyko 2017

Marbled Crayfish Marmorkrebs écrevisse marbré racul marmorat

General description. Distribution

Small to medium sized crayfish, adults reaching 4 to 8 cm in total length. General marbled aspect is specific for this species. The crayfish appears marbled because of the multiple dark and bright spots around the lateral sides of the carapace over the general brown color of the body. Younger specimens have a transparent aspect or other different colors. Ventral side of the claws is brighter compared to the upper side. Elongated rostrum with smooth and slightly curved margins, and triangle shaped apex. A single postorbital ridge with distal spine, cervical groove having several spines on its ventral side. The certain diagnosis from its relative P. alenii is given by the flatter annulus ventralis with a bell-shaped aspect, no scooped lateral wings on the lateral parts, and not anteriorly peaked.

This species originates from pet-species, whereas deliberately released in natural habitats leads to the establishment of wild populations. The species was confirmed in wild populations in Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, even Madagascar and Japan. In Romania, the species was found for the first time in ornamental ponds in Băile Felix (Sânmartin), Bihor county by Pârvulescu et al. (2017). Nowadays, the species distribution in Romania does not overlap other indigenous or non-indigenous crayfish species. For details visit the distribution.page.

Habitat and Ecology

As a result of entering the Romanian market, and due to misperception among some aquarium owners, individuals of this species reaching the natural environment can establish independent populations. This crayfish prefers warmer waters, frost usually completely destroy populations because this crayfish behavior does not include burrowing. Usually the established populations persisted in urban semi-natural water bodies. This species can be a threat to the native crayfish species because it is a reservoir for the crayfish plague pathogen Aphanomyces astaci, a pathogen originating in North America producing mass mortality to native crayfish populations.

Life history

The anthropogenic origin of this species as a consequence of the increasing interest for pet-species followed by a spectacular evolution of the populations of P. fallax to the obligate parthenogenesis of P. fallax f. virginalis, females only representing the whole global populations by development of embryos from unfertilized oocytes. It is not known precisely the period in which this species lay eggs in the wild, a single female being sufficient for the establishment of a population.

Selective bibliography

1. Holdich DM, Haffner P, Noël PY (2006) Species files in Souty-Grosset, C., Holdich, D. M., Noël, P. Y., Reynolds, J. D., Haffner, P. (Eds.), Atlas of Crayfish in Europe. Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris (Patrimoines naturels, 64);
2. Martin P, Dorn NJ, Kawai T, van der Heiden C, Scholtz G (2010) The enigmatic Marmorkrebs (marbled crayfish) is the parthenogenetic form of Procambarus fallax (Hagen, 1870). Contributions to Zoology 79: 107–118

3. Pârvulescu L, Togor A, Lele SF, Scheu S, Șinca D, Panteleit J (2017) First established population of marbled crayfish Procambarus fallax (Hagen, 1870) f. virginalis (Decapoda, Cambaridae) in Romania. BioInvasions Records 6

4. Lyko F (2017) The marbled crayfish (Decapoda: Cambaridae) represents an independent new species. Zootaxa, 4363(4), 544-552