Project: Ecological Differentiation and Survivability of Tubifex tubifex Infested with Myxobolus cerebralis in the San Juan River, New Mexico Tailwater "Blue-Ribbon Trout Fishery"

Primary Investigator: Colleen Caldwell
Project Summary: This was the first part of a two-year study to establish and characterize the distribution and environmental constraints of genetic variants of T. tubifex within the San Juan River tailwater in the vicinity of the Navajo Dam, New Mexico. Sixty benthic and sediment samples were collected in summer and winter 2001. The benthic samples were processed to establish tubificid density, community structure, and the percentage of T. tubifex within each population. The percentage of T. tubifex within the enumerated samples ranged from 1 % to 96 %. TAM screening for whirling disease showed infection rates ranging from 0% to 15% within the sample reach with higher percentages in samples from deep habitat. Three genetic lineages of T. tubifex were identified from study samples. T. tubifex lineage monocultures are now being established to experimentally explore the survivability of encysted T. tubifex and the post-treatment viability of M. cerebralis spores under controlled temporal and thermal regimes.
Funding Period: 2001-2002
Final Report: Caldwell_01-02.pdf
Dataset(s) associated with this project:

Distribution of Tubifex tubifex lineages and Myxobolus cerebralis infection in the San Juan River, New Mexico