Premium
Bacteriology and parasitology of red spot disease in sea mullet, Mugil cephalus L., from eastern Australia
Author(s) -
CALLINAN R. B.,
KEEP J. A.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of fish diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1365-2761
pISSN - 0140-7775
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2761.1989.tb00323.x
Subject(s) - mugil , biology , mullet , outbreak , vibrio , microbiology and biotechnology , veterinary medicine , aeromonas hydrophila , bacteriology , bacteria , fish <actinopterygii> , fishery , medicine , virology , genetics
. Bacteria and cutaneous ectoparasites associated with red spot disease (RSD) in sea mullet, Mugil cephalus L., from the Clarence and Richmond Rivers in north‐east New South Wales were identified. Various bacteria, including Aeromonas spp., Alcaligenes spp., Pseudomonas spp. and Vibrio spp. were recovered from lesions designated erythematous dermatitis, necrotizing dermatitis and dermal ulcer, but no genus was consistently dominant in cultures from any of the lesion types. Vibrio anguillarum , previously proposed as the cause of RSD, was recovered from four of 37 lesions of erythematous dermatitis, none of 46 lesions of necrotizing dermatitis and eight of 36 dermal ulcers. Bacteria were recovered only rarely from liver and posterior kidney of diseased fish. These results suggest that none of the bacteria isolated is the primary cause of RSD. There was no evidence that cutaneous ectoparasites, including the digencan Prototransversotrema steeri , are significant in the pathogenesis of RSD in sea mullet. None were found on eight normal fish collected in the month preceding a major RSD outbreak. In the first 2 months of the outbreak, none were found on 18 fish with erythematous dermatitis, eight with dermal ulcers or 11 of 12 normal fish. A single digenean, morphologically consistent with P. steeri , was recovered from a normal fish collected during this latter period.