EXPERIMENTAL PATHOGENICITY OF AEROMONAS SPP. FOR THE ZEBRA MUSSEL, DREISSENA-POLYMORPHA

Experiments were conducted to determine whether species of Aeromonas w ere pathogenic to the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha. A. jandaei, A . veronii, and A. media, identified with Biolog, were originally isola ted from dead zebra mussels, When inoculated into living mussels, thes e bacteria resulted in the mortality of the bivalves. Two additional s pecies, A. salmonicida salmonicida (ATCC 33678) and A. hydrophila (ATC C 7966), were also demonstrated to be pathogenic to the mussels. In ad dition to the pathogenicity, the data also suggest that the zebra muss els may be an important reservoir for these bacteria in freshwater env ironments.