| Summary: | Herpesviruses have attracted particular research attention during the past 30 years because of their economic and ecological impact on cultured and wild marine mollusks. The first description of a virus from a marine mollusk indicating membership to the order Herpesvirales was reported in Eastern oysters, Crassostrea virginica. In the 1990s, a herpesvirus infecting French Pacific oyster larvae had been identified as ostreid herpesvirus type 1 (OsHV-1) and classified in the family Malacoherpesviridae. OsHV-1 is the etiological agent of a highly prevalent viral infection affecting different bivalve species including the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, worldwide. Highly pathogenic herpesviruses were also reported in several abalone species including Haliotis diversicolor supertexta, Haliotis laevigta, Haliotis rubra and their hybrids associated with substantial mortality outbreaks. The serious impacts from disease outbreaks in marine mollusks stress the need to further characterize these viruses and better understand their biology in order to establish management measures.
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