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Aquarium hitchhikers: attached commensals imported with freshwater shrimps via the pet trade

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Abstract

The keeping of home aquaria is one of the most popular hobbies globally. In contrast to the ornamental fish trade, decapod crustaceans such as shrimps, crayfish and crabs are relatively new to the pet trade. Nevertheless, the popularity of ornamental shrimp in freshwater aquaria has rapidly increased in recent years. Indonesia is one of the leading producers and exporters of ornamental aquatic animals globally and the Czech Republic is a gateway for these animals into the European Union territory. The pathway for introductions of organisms unintentionally moved in association with ornamental shrimps via the international trade has to date not been evaluated. We examined a small number of shrimps imported from Indonesia into the Czech Republic in May 2015 and found large numbers of the protozoan Vorticella sp., one species of scutariellid temnocephalidan (Caridinicola sp.), and one species of bdelloid rotifer, associated with two species of atyid shrimps, indicating an invasion risk from fauna carried unintentionally by this vector. Although our observations were limited in scale, we estimate the total number of commensal fauna imported into the Czech Republic with ornamental shrimps via the pet trade to be in the order of hundreds of thousands per month. As attached organisms can directly or indirectly cause diseases in certain species of decapod crustaceans, we recommend five steps to reduce risks of introduction of “hitchhikers” to aquaria and wildlife.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the importer of ornamental shrimps. We are grateful to Ian C. Duggan and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. Partial funding was provided by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic—projects “CENAKVA” (No. CZ.1.05/2.1.00/01.0024), “CENAKVA II” (No. LO1205 under the NPU I program); and by the project “CIGA” (No. 20152007). The proofreading of English was conducted by William L. Shelton.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology and Fisheries, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Prague, 165 21, Czech Republic

    Jiří Patoka, Kateřina Rylková, Zuzana Čadková & Lukáš Kalous

  2. South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Zátiší 728/II, Vodňany, 389 25, Czech Republic

    Martin Bláha

  3. Biology Centre, Institute of Soil Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Sádkách 7, České Budějovice, 370 05, Czech Republic

    Miloslav Devetter

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  1. Jiří Patoka
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  2. Martin Bláha
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  3. Miloslav Devetter
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  4. Kateřina Rylková
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  5. Zuzana Čadková
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  6. Lukáš Kalous
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Correspondence to Jiří Patoka.

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Patoka, J., Bláha, M., Devetter, M. et al. Aquarium hitchhikers: attached commensals imported with freshwater shrimps via the pet trade. Biol Invasions 18, 457–461 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-015-1018-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-015-1018-9

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