Presently, king crab (Paralithodes camtshaticus) has formed an independent population in the Barents Sea after the introduction of the species from the Pacific Ocean. Research conducted on various organs and tissues of the crab has shown a presence of the parasites listed in Table 2.4.6.
No parasites that infect the king crab in the Pacific were found in the king crab from the Barents Sea. Therefore, results of the research demonstrate that introduced crab has not become a source of any introduced parasites in the Barents Sea (Bakay, 2003).
A question regarding a possible increase in numbers of Trypanosoma cases in Barents Sea fish due to the increasing numbers of king crab population remains open as the Norwegian and Russian scientists have different opinion on this matter (Karlsbakk et al., 1999; Karlsbakk, 2005; Hemmingsen et al., 2005; Bakay and Karasev, 2008).
