Vibrio species as agents of elasmobranch disease

Abstract

Two Vibrio species identified as V. damsela and a new sucrose-positive Vibrio sp., V. carchariae sp. nov., were simultaneously isolated from a brown shark which died while being held in captivity at a large aquarium. Pathogenicity studies were subsequently conducted using a variety of elasmobranchs, including smooth dogfish and lemon sharks. Both bacterial strains proved pathogenic, causing death in nearly all of the elasmobranch hosts challenged. Virulence studies revealed that both bacterial strains were cytotoxic for Y-I mouse adrenal cells. The V. damsela strain was highly cytotoxic, causing Y-1 cellular damage at culture supernatant dilutions up to 1 : 128. Both strains were hemolytic, but neither exhibited the Kanagawa phenomenon. They were both capable of urea hydrolysis, an interesting trait, considering that elasmobranchs retain large (ca 300 milliosmolal) urea concentration in their tissue.

Meningoencephalitis Associated With Carnobacterium maltaromaticum–Like Bacteria in Stranded Juvenile Salmon Sharks (Lamna ditropis)

“…3 Pathogenic Vibrio sp was associated with encephalitis in a naturally infected brown shark, and encephalitis was subsequently induced in spiny dogfish and lemon sharks exposed to the isolated organism by intraperitoneal injection. 5 Pyogranulomatous meningitis of unknown etiology was identified in a stranded basking shark. 3 Species of Carnobacterium are frequent inhabitants of the intestine, urogenital tracts, and gills of both fresh and salt water teleosts, in both aquaculture and in wild populations.…”

“…4,9,11,13,14,18 Despite their role as normal flora and the protective effects of some bacteriocin-producing strains, some Carnobacterium species, particularly C. maltaromaticum, have been associated with morbidity and mortality in a variety of fish species. 1,5 Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) challenged with C. maltaromaticum (previously C. piscicola) died within 5 to 9 days of exposure with histological evidence of hepatic necrosis and encephalitis. 1 A C. maltaromaticum-like bacterium was isolated in association with histological abnormalities in lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) from Lakes Michigan and Huron.…”

Taxonomic evidence that Vibrio carchariae Grimes et al. 1985 is a junior synonym of Vibrio harveyi (Johnson and Shunk 1936) Baumann et al. 1981

“…The first reports of Vibrio carchariae as a pathogen were published in 1984, after the organism had been isolated in 1982 from a brown shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus) found dead in captivity (Grimes et al, 1984a, b). The biochemical properties were thoroughly described by Grimes et al (1984a, b), who also showed that the organism was pathogenic to various elasmobranch fish and to mouse cell cultures.…”

“…The biochemical properties were thoroughly described by Grimes et al (1984a, b), who also showed that the organism was pathogenic to various elasmobranch fish and to mouse cell cultures. The name of the species was approved in 1985 (Anonymous, 1985).…”

Characterization of two pathogenic Photobacterium strains isolated from Exopalaemon carinicauda causing mortality of shrimp

“…At the same time, Photobacterium damselae subsp. damselae was reported as a pathogen of marine animals, including mollusc (Hanlon et al, 1984), shark (Grimes et al, 1984), turtle (Obendorf et al, 1987), dolphins (Buck et al, 1991;Fujioka et al, 1988) and whale (Buck et al, 1991). It is considered as an emerging pathogen in marine aquaculture (Labella et al, 2011), since it can infect the cultivated fish including seabream (Vera et al, 1991), turbot (Fouz et al, 1992), eel (Ketterer and Eaves, 1992), rainbow trout (Pedersen et al, 2009), ovate pompano (Zhao et al, 2009), etc.…”