Interspecific transmission and recovery of TCBS-induced disease between Acanthaster planci and Linckia guildingi

Caballes, C.F., Schupp, P.J., Pratchett, M.S., and Rivera Posada, J.A. (2012) Interspecific transmission and recovery of TCBS-induced disease between Acanthaster planci and Linckia guildingi. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms, 100 (3). pp. 263-267.

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Abstract

The susceptibility of the coral-feeding crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster planci to disease may provide an avenue with which to effectively control population outbreaks that have caused severe and widespread coral loss in the Indo-Pacific. Injecting thiosulfate-citrate-bile-sucrose (TCBS) agar into A. planci tissues induced a disease characterized by dermal lesions, loss of skin turgor, collapsed spines, and accumulation of mucus on spine tips. Moreover, the symptoms (and presumably the agent) of this disease would spread rapidly intraspecifically, but interspecific transmission (to other species of echinoderms) is yet to be examined. Vibrio rotiferianus, which was previously reported as a pathogen isolated from lesions of experimentally infected A. planci, was also recovered from Linckia guildingi lesions after several days of direct contact with diseased A. planci, demonstrating disease transmission. However, all L. guildingi fully recovered after 31 ± 16 d. Further studies are in progress to understand the ecology of Vibrio infection in A. planci and the potential transmission risk to corals, fishes, and other echinoderms to evaluate whether injections of TCBS could be a viable tool for controlling A. planci outbreaks.

Item ID: 23664
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1616-1580
Keywords: Acanthaster planci; disease transmission; Vibrio rotiferianus; Harveyi group; Linckia guildingi; crown-of-thorns starfish
Date Deposited: 14 Jan 2013 22:59
FoR Codes: 06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0605 Microbiology > 060501 Bacteriology @ 50%
06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0602 Ecology > 060205 Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl Marine Ichthyology) @ 50%
SEO Codes: 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9604 Control of Pests, Diseases and Exotic Species > 960407 Control of Pests, Diseases and Exotic Species in Marine Environments @ 50%
96 ENVIRONMENT > 9605 Ecosystem Assessment and Management > 960507 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Marine Environments @ 50%
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