The alien, parthenogenetic marbled crayfish (Decapoda: Cambaridae) is entering Kis-Balaton (Hungary), one of Europe’s most important wetland biotopes

Abstract

The marbled crayfish or Marmorkrebs, Procambarus fallax (Hagen, 1870) f. virginalis, a parthenogenetic freshwater crayfish belonging to the North American cambarids, was recorded in Hungary for the first time. Several specimens of this potentially invasive crayfish were caught at different locations in the thermal Lake Hévíz and its outflows in the western part of the country. Captured individuals covered a wide size range (5.5 to 50.5 mm carapace length) and one was carrying eggs and recently hatched offspring, which suggests that this organism has established a stable and self-sustaining population in the warm habitats of Lake Hévíz area. This finding is of great significance because these habitats belong to the catchment of the Danube River including Lake Balaton, and thus, a significant further spread of the marbled crayfish is likely to happen in Central Europe. Furthermore, the expansion of this crayfish already reached the Kis-Balaton, one of the landscape protection areas of the Balaton Uplands National Park, what could have currently yet unpredictable consequences for this unique wetland biotope.

Keywords

• non-indigenous crayfish species
• pet trade
• illegal release
• crayfish plague
• thermal lake