Juvenile summer flounder, Paralichthys-dentatus, mortalities in the western Atlantic Ocean caused by the hemoflagellate Trypanoplasma bullocki : evidence from field and experimental studies
Juvenile summer flounder (140-200 mm) inoculated with T. bullocki by leech vector or syringe in November 1980, and held in flowing seawater tanks all died within 11 weeks. Water temperature during the period of highest mortality ranged from 0.5 to 1.5 °C and may have been a contributing factor in mortality. No uninoculated control fish died even though held in the same tank. Symptoms of disease were anemia, splenomegaly and obvious ascites. Mortality of feral juvenile summer flunder in the lower York River during January 1981 was also attributable to T. bullocki because of identical symptoms to moribund fish in the experiment. Results suggest that the presence of ascites can be used as an estimate of mortality in fishes north of Cape Hatteras