First record of the Asian prawn Palaemon macrodactylus Rathbun, 1902 (Caridea: Palaemonoidea: Palaemonidae) from the Black Sea

Dragoş Micu,Victor Niţă

doi:10.3391/ai.2009.4.4.5

Abstract

The first specimens of the Asian prawn Palaemon macrodactylus Rathbun, 1902, including ovigerous females, were identified in estuarine water bodies along the Romanian coast during early September 2009, in large numbers compared to the native prawns Palaemon elegans Rathke, 1837 and Palaemon adspersus Rathke, 1837. Examination of archived samples backdated the first occurrence of P. macrodactylus in the Black Sea to 2002. The supposed vector of introduction is via ballast water, from ships travelling from Rotterdam. Native to the seas of Japan and Korea, P. macrodactylus was first introduced in California in the 1950s, Australia in the 1970s and later to Britain, parts of continental Europe and Argentina. The Asian prawn already has wellestablished populations in the Romanian Black Sea and, taking into consideration the invasion record and the ecology of this species, it is very likely that it will successfully invade the whole of the Black and Azov Seas and the adjacent estuaries, deltas and limans.

Highlights

The Asian prawn Palaemon macrodactylus Rathbun, 1902 is native to Japan and Korea (Rathbun 1902; Kubo 1942), while the Chinese and Taiwanese records by Holthuis (1980), Liu et al (1990) and Chan and Yu (1985) might belong to different species (d’Udekem d’Acoz et al 2005).Palaemon macrodactylus is euryhaline, showing a strong osmoregulatory capability throughout a salinity range of 3-35 PSU (Born 1968; González-Ortegón et al 2006)
The first specimens of P. macrodactylus were collected during September 2009 by SCUBA diving in Constanta Harbour and Mamaia Bay during a sampling campaign, which was not directed at this species
909 specimens of P. macrodactylus have been collected in total from 7 locations along the Romanian Black Sea coast, from North to South: Periboina, Edighiol, Midia Harbour, Mamaia Bay, Constanţa Harbour, Eforie Marina, Mangalia Lake, in September 2009

Summary

Introduction

The Asian prawn Palaemon macrodactylus Rathbun, 1902 is native to Japan and Korea (Rathbun 1902; Kubo 1942), while the Chinese and Taiwanese records by Holthuis (1980), Liu et al (1990) and Chan and Yu (1985) might belong to different species (d’Udekem d’Acoz et al 2005).Palaemon macrodactylus is euryhaline, showing a strong osmoregulatory capability throughout a salinity range of 3-35 PSU (Born 1968; González-Ortegón et al 2006). The first specimens of P. macrodactylus were collected during September 2009 by SCUBA diving in Constanta Harbour (below the sluice gates of the Danube-Black Sea Canal) and Mamaia Bay during a sampling campaign, which was not directed at this species.

Results

Conclusion