DAO 126:83-87 (2017)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03151

ABSTRACT: On rare occasions, small cream-coloured cysts have been observed in the heart and pericardial cavity of Pacific oysters Crassostrea gigas from British Columbia, Canada. Histopathology revealed the presence of large colonies of bacteria (up to 800 µm in diameter) causing significant host response and hypertrophy of the heart epithelium. The causative bacteria were characterized as follows: Gram-negative, coccoid to small rod-shaped, typically <1.5 µm in size, cell walls highly endowed with surface fimbriae and division via binary fission. Although these bacteria shared some morphological characteristics with the order Rickettsiales, they did not require an intracellular existence for multiplication. Unfortunately, a cultured isolate was not available, and a retrospective attempt to further characterize the bacteria using DNA sequence analysis of a fragment from the 16S rDNA region proved to be uninformative.

KEY WORDS: Pacific oysters · Lesions · Bacteria

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Cite this article as: Meyer GR, Lowe GJ, Bower SM (2017) Rare occurrence of heart lesions in Pacific oysters Crassostrea gigas caused by an unknown bacterial infection. Dis Aquat Org 126:83-87. https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03151 Export citation Share:    Facebook - - linkedIn