Effects of the bloom-forming alga Trichodesmium erythraeum on the pearl oyster Pinctada maxima

Farmed pearl oysters ( Pinctada maxima) suffered high mortality in the Dampier Archipelago of Western Australia in 1996. The mortality event affected all oyster sizes and coincided with extensive blooms of the cyanobacterium Trichodesmium erythraeum. The potent neurotoxin saxitoxin was detected in s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Aquaculture 2004-04, Vol.232 (1), p.91-102
Main Authors: Negri, Andrew P., Bunter, Owen, Jones, Brian, Llewellyn, Lyndon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algae
Animal aquaculture
Animal productions
Aquaculture
Biological and medical sciences
Chaetoceros calcitrans
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Invertebrate aquaculture
Marine
Mollusca
Oscillatoria erythraea
Oyster
Oysters
Pearl
Pinctada maxima
Saxitoxin
Toxin
Toxins
Trichodesmium
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Summary:Farmed pearl oysters ( Pinctada maxima) suffered high mortality in the Dampier Archipelago of Western Australia in 1996. The mortality event affected all oyster sizes and coincided with extensive blooms of the cyanobacterium Trichodesmium erythraeum. The potent neurotoxin saxitoxin was detected in small amounts in some of the affected adult oysters but was not detectable in T. erythraeum. Vibrio species were isolated from some of the affected oysters but not in patterns consistent with a primary disease and no virus-like particles were observed. Juvenile oysters were exposed to medium and high concentrations of T. erythraeum in experimental aquaria for 7 days. No mortality of juvenile oysters occurred but individuals exposed to T. erythraeum at 10 5 cells/ml were less healthy than those fed upon the diatom Chaetoceros calcitrans. Histopathology of adult oysters from the affected farm and juvenile oysters exposed to T. erythraeum in the aquarium experiments were similar and included dilation of digestive gland lumens, sloughing of epithelial cells and granulocytes under the epithelial layer. These symptoms suggest that the T. erythraeum blooms in the archipelago were not a suitable food source for the oysters and may have contributed to the observed mortalities.
ISSN:0044-8486
1873-5622
DOI:10.1016/S0044-8486(03)00487-3