The implication of ambient temperature with the outbreak of vibriosis in cultured small abalone Haliotis diversicolor supertexta Lischke

(1) Outbreaks of mass mortality among Cultured small abalone Haliotis diver sicolor supertexta Lischke with vibriosis occurred in May and September of 1998 in Kao-Hsiung, Taiwan. (2) The effect of different temperature treatme nts on the susceptibility of small abalone to vibrio and its extracellular products (ECP) was investigated. (3) Two bacterial strains, Vibrio alginoly ticus H11 and V. parahaemolyticus B4 originally isolated from the haemolymp h of the moribund small abalone at 28 and 32 degreesC, respectively, were u sed in this study for susceptibility tests. (4) The results reveal that at higher temperatures, the small abalone were more susceptible to vibrio and ECP challenge indicating that the outbreak of vibriosis is associated with warm water conditions. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.