# New threat to amphibians: Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans



## easternversant (Sep 4, 2012)

An Op-Ed piece by Karen Lips and Joe Mendelson in the New York Times describes the potential for introducing a newly described pathogenic fungus into populations of american anurans and caudates.

This fungus, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, is Asian in origin but is currently wrecking havoc in Europe as a result of the pet trade. The authors advocate enforcement of the Lacey Act as well as voluntary action by the pet trade. They urge hobbyists to stop importing wild-caught Asian salamanders.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/15/o...tml?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytopinion

Some food for thought...


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## Michael Shrom (May 20, 2004)

easternversant said:


> An Op-Ed piece by Karen Lips and Joe Mendelson in the
> 
> This fungus, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, is Asian in origin but is currently wrecking havoc in Europe as a result of the pet trade.
> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/15/o...tml?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytopinion
> ...


The article says it appears to be a result of the pet trade. They have no clear evidence proving it is a result of the pet trade. Caution is needed but science can quickly be politicized. 

We do need to work more on maintaining captive bred salamanders if we expect to have a variety of animals available in the future.


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## stu&shaz (Nov 19, 2009)

It's of deep concern this paper,worrying that we are implicated,but the trade in live frogs know to be carriers of more than one strain of Bd,ie the frogleg trade isn't mentioned as another possible vector. Sheer numbers of individual animals moved in the food trade,would make even a simple layman like myself look towards this as another possible cause,seems to me like an oversight has taken place here!! I realize this isn't Bd,persay ,but it doesn't really seem to be wildly stretching the facts to say the fungus might be forming new strains that can effect other amphibians and these might have originated in frogs traded out of Asia for food. 

Caviat I am not a scientist,just a simple layman these are my thoughts not backed by science. It just looks using simple logic like the boffins ought to be looking at the big picture really: millions of animals are moved in the food trade I'm utterly open to being corrected. 

There is one thing though,if we, to a man, all just bleach all our waste water...leave stand until clear,double bag or burn all solid waste from our frogs,then this pretty much removes us from being implicated in spreading these pathogens,to the wild amphibians we adore so much. I do realize we are not perfect ,but these simple measures will go along way. We need to constantly mention these protocols I feel for our newer members,as not everyone considers this issue at first.

I/We are very lucky in that we live in a rural area,and have wild natives here,including a certain newt that is quite scarce in the UK. So as we came into the hobby learning what I could do to prevent a non native pathogen getting from our collection to the wild was very important, weighed on my mind abit I must say. Once again our mentor know as Ed helped us with the above methods,thanks as always. Guys not all of us are so aware I feel,so it's really important for us to get this message out there regularly,I realize i'm repeating my self,but,to me, it is that important new keepers are given this awareness early on,essentially before frogs.

Take care all 


Stu


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## Afemoralis (Mar 17, 2005)

At least in the initial Science paper (Science Magazine: Sign In), anurans were not infected by the pathogen, including bullfrogs. I am unaware of any salamanders imported as food from Asia or Europe- but I'm ready to be surprised. Biomedical trade of Axolotl is another concern. 

Even if the pet trade is only "the most likely" point of transmission, the role of the conservation minded terrarium community is pretty clear in my opinion. Stop the imports unless they are screened for this disease. The fine herpetoculturalists in this country (some have posted above) have demonstrated an ability to successfully breed most species of interest to the hobby. Who really benefits from bulk importations of Cynops and Tylototriton?

The reality is that we have a great deal to loose in the US from this emergent disease. This paragraph is from the Science paper linked to above:

"Our infection experiments show that B. salamandrivorans is lethal to at least some of the New World salamandrid species (genera Taricha and Notophthalmus). Although these combined genera contain only seven species, together they have a widespread distribution and are often very abundant. The outcome of exposure of three lineages of plethodontids (a family comprising 66% of global urodelan diversity) to B. salamandrivorans ranged from a lack of any detectable infection (Gyrinophilus), to transient skin invasion (Plethodon) and lethal infection (Hydromantes), making it likely that other species in this large family are vulnerable."

Essentially, it looks like our newts would be toast. What would happen to our spectacular Plethodontids is more of an open question.

Are cheap Cynops worth it? 

-Afemoralis


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## Michael Shrom (May 20, 2004)

Afemoralis said:


> At least in the initial Science paper (Science Magazine: Sign In), anurans were not infected by the pathogen, including bullfrogs. I am unaware of any salamanders imported as food from Asia or Europe- but I'm ready to be surprised. Biomedical trade of Axolotl is another concern.
> 
> 
> Salamanders and frogs have historically been imported to the U.S. as food for years. An Asian friend of mine used to pick up rare salamanders at food markets in China town N.Y. This trade has diminished over the years.
> ...


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## easternversant (Sep 4, 2012)

A number of herp-oriented scientific groups just sent a letter to Dan Ashe, director of USFW. It can be found here.

Who knows, change may be coming, whether or not the hobby actively embraces it.


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