ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF VIBRIO-ALGINOLYTICUS ISOLATED FROM DISEASED KURUMA PRAWN, PENAEUS-JAPONICUS

Outbreaks of serious mortality among cultured kuruma prawns (Penaeus j aponicus) with white spotted syndrome in the carapace occurred in the summer of 1993 in I-Lan, Taiwan. A swarming bacterium, strain Swy, was isolated from the hepatopancreas of the moribund prawns using tryptic soy agar supplemented with 1% NaCl and/or thiosulphate citrate bile s alt sucrose agar. This strain was characterized and identified as Vibr io alginolyticus on the basis of a number of biochemical tests. The Sw y strain was virulent to both kuruma prawns (P. japonicus) and tiger p rawns (P. monodon) with LD(50) values of 4.43 x 10(4) and 1.57 x 10(5) cfu g body weight(-1), respectively.