| The Portuguese oyster, Crassostrea angulata, was introduced from Portugal to the French Atlantic Coast in the 1860s. C. angulata quickly settled and expanded and leaded to the development of a new aquacultural industry in France. In the late 1960s, mortality associated with the detection of an iridovirus, led to the wipe out of C. angulata from French Atlantic waters and to the massive introduction of C. gigas to sustain production. In Southern Europe, similar symptoms were also observed in natural stocks of C. angulata from Sado River (Portugal) and from the area of Cadiz (Spain). Nowadays, only very few «pure» populations of C. angulata remain in southern Europe. These populations are potentially endangered by the current expansion of C. gigas... |
