Abstract

Panulirus argus virus 1 (PaV1) is a contact-transmitted pathogen that causes mortality in the gregarious Caribbean spiny lobsters (Panulirus argus). However, studies have shown that P. argus has the ability to detect and avoid shelters inhabited by infected conspecifics, thereby reducing infection risk but also causing increased mortality due to a lack of available (disease-free) shelters. Ultimately, disease avoidance and shelter limitations could have population wide affects through increased PaV1 transmission or increased predation. Based on its role in many other aspects of lobster ecology, olfaction is the most likely mode of PaV1 detection. To test the role of olfaction and determine the source of the olfactory cue in the PaV1 detection, we are using y-maze experiments. We are also exploring the effect of diseased lobsters on population spatial structure in nature and the effect flow has on this structure. Preliminary results show that diseased lobster avoidance is driven by olfaction, and moreover, the olfactory cue alone was equivalent in effectiveness to having a diseased lobster present and visible thereby causing shelter avoidance. Juvenile shelter avoidance in a shelter limited environment (sponge die-offs) could result in a population bottleneck that would affect the adult demographics along with the entire Caribbean spiny lobster fishery. This research is ongoing and additional results will be available by the time of the GCFI meeting.

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