THE HISTORY OF THE EMERGENCE OF VIRUSES IN AUSTRALIAN PRAWN AQUACULTURE

Early in Australia's prawn aquacultural history it was very clear that all viruses in aquaculture had been preceded by their discovery in th e wild prawns from the fishery. During the farming intensification pro cess, it was also very clear that the housing of spawners from the fis hery was providing evidence of potential problems. There is no evidenc e that there has been any introduction of viruses novel to Australia, but rather the viruses have been always present in the wild prawns awa iting a chance to be amplified by the increasing population density of aquaculture. The information on prawn viruses adds weight to the view that Australia's marine disease faunas are part of the greater Asian area. However, there is some evidence that some of the Australian stra ins are, in all probability, different.