No evidence of Hematodinium spp. infections in the recently established Barents Sea snow crab population

Snow crab ( Chionoecetes opilio ) is a recent addition to the Barents Sea fauna, being registered for the first time in the area in 1996. Arctic snow crabs have previously been found to harbour Hematodinium spp. infections. In the present study, haemolymph samples from 142 snow crabs caught in the central Barents Sea in November 2016 were screened for presence of Hematodinium spp. infections by using microscopic examination and two different PCR assays. No positive samples were detected. Hematodinium may not have been present in the snow crabs in this area at the time of sampling.