The marine live bait trade as a pathway for the introduction of non-indigenous species into California: patterns of importation and thermal tolerances of imported specimens

Bruno Passarelli,Bruno Pernet

doi:10.3391/mbi.2019.10.1.05

Abstract

The marine live bait trade as a pathway for the introduction of non-indigenous species into California: patterns of importation and thermal tolerances of imported specimens

Highlights

Human-mediated introductions of marine non-indigenous species (NIS) to novel geographic areas occur through numerous vectors or mechanisms (Williams et al 2013)
All of the businesses reported that these species are imported into California from other states or countries
One third of survey respondents reported selling “grass shrimp,” with all of them listing California as the origin. This species was tentatively identified as the California bay shrimp, Crangon franciscorum Stimpson 1865, one of the most common native species of shrimp in central California

Summary

Introduction

Human-mediated introductions of marine non-indigenous species (NIS) to novel geographic areas occur through numerous vectors or mechanisms (Williams et al 2013). In comparison to ballast water and hull fouling vectors, these other introduction pathways, which include the seafood, aquaculture, aquarium, and live bait trades, have received relatively little attention by researchers (but see Cohen et al 2001; Naylor et al 2001; Chapman et al 2003; Weigle et al 2005; Chang et al 2009; Kilian et al 2012; Grosholz et al 2015; Font et al 2018) These different trades associated with the transport of live organisms undoubtedly vary in the diversity and numbers of organisms transported, and in the risk of their release and establishment into novel areas. This is likely an underestimate, as small, cryptic organisms that might have been introduced via this pathway may be difficult for researchers to detect (Cohen et al 2001; Fowler et al 2016)

Methods

Results

Conclusion