Zoothamnium duplicatum infestation of cultured horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus)

Shinn AP 1 , Mühlhölzl AP 2 , Coates CJ 3 , Metochis C 4 , Freeman MA 5

Affiliations 

  • 1 Institute of Aquaculture, School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland, UK; Fish Vet Group Asia Limited, 99/386 Chaengwattana Building, Chaengwattana Road, Kwaeng Toongsonghong, Khet Laksi, Bangkok 10210, Thailand. Electronic address: andy.shinn@fishvetgroup.com
  • 2 Marine Biotech Limited, Stirling, Stirlingshire, UK
  • 3 Biological and Environmental Sciences, School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland, UK. Electronic address: c.j.coates@stir.ac.uk
  • 4 Institute of Aquaculture, School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland, UK
  • 5 Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
J Invertebr Pathol, 2015 Feb;125:81-6.
PMID: 25499897 DOI: 10.1016/j.jip.2014.12.002

Abstract

An outbreak of the sessile peritrich Zoothamnium duplicatum in a pilot, commercial-scale Limulus polyphemus hatchery resulted in the loss of ∼96% (40,000) second/third instar larvae over a 61day period. peritrich growth was heavy, leading to mechanical obstruction of the gills and physical damage. The peritrichs were controlled without resultant loss of juvenile crabs by administering 10ppm chlorine in freshwater for 1h and the addition of aquarium grade sand; a medium into which the crabs could burrow and facilitate cleaning of the carapace. Peritrich identity was confirmed from a partial SSU rDNA contiguous sequence of 1343bp (99.7% similarity to Z. duplicatum).

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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