Background:

The virus Panulirus argus Virus 1 (PaV1) causes a systemic infection and death to spiny lobsters Panulirus argus (Latreille, 1804). PaV1 is prevalent in the Mexican Caribbean Sea, but there is no information about its prevalence in the state of Yucatan.

Goals:

To determine the prevalence of PaV1 in lobster tails from two main fishing zones from the state of Yucatan.

Methods:

Four hundred and ninety-six intestinal tissue samples were collected from lobster tails collected in río Lagartos and from Alacranes Reef. Around 50 mg of intestinal tissue were stored and analyzed individually by PCR, which amplifies a fragment of 499 bp of genomic DNA of PaV1. The X2 test and a logistic regression analysis were used to determine the differences between sampling zones, size (sub-adult and adult), sex, and molt status.

Results:

A prevalence of 2.62% (13/496) was obtained. The PaV1 DNA sequence had 100% of homology and identity to the original DNA sequence reported in the GenBank. In río Lagartos the prevalence was of 4.73% and of 1.53% in Alacranes Reef (X2 = 4.28, p =0.0038). Significant differences were found between lobster sizes; PaV1 was more prevalent in sub-adults (3.96%) than adults (1.7%) (X2 = 9.62, p =0.0081). The logistic regression analysis revealed that lobster´s size and catching zone had a high significance with PaV1.

Conclusions:

This is the first molecular detection of PaV1 in tails of lobsters P. argus from the Yucatan state destined for marketing and exportation.