Paramoebiasis of sea-farmed salmonids in Tasmania : a study of its aetiology, pathogenicity, and control ...

• Main Author: Howard, Teresa Sylvia
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: University Of Tasmania 2023
• Subjects: Atlantic salmon
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25959/23231135; https://figshare.utas.edu.au/articles/thesis/Paramoebiasis_of_sea-farmed_salmonids_in_Tasmania_a_study_of_its_aetiology_pathogenicity_and_control/23231135

Amoebic gill disease (AGD) is the most significant disease of farmed sea-caged salmonids in Tasmania. The research reported here provides the first substantiated evidence for a Paramoeba species as the cause of this economically important disease. A total of 680 cultures of amoebae were prepared during an extensive sampling programme of diseased Atlantic salmon, resulting in 61 successfully purified and subcultured amoeba isolates. This library of amoebae comprised the protozoan genera Platyamoeba, Vannella, Flabellula, Heteroamoeba, Vexillifera, Acanthamoeba and Paramoeba. Fixed and frozen sections of gills from fish with AGD were immunostained with polyclonal antisera against the predominant genera associated with gills. Only Paramoeba was detected in large numbers on gill tissue and always in close association with gill hyperplasia, a characteristic pathognomonic of AGD. Antisera to Paramoeba were highly specific and did not cross react with other genera of gill-associated amoebae. Specificity of the ...