Pathogens and Related Diseases in Non-European Cephalopods: Asia. A Preliminary Review

Abstract

Parasitic diseases and other abnormalities play critical roles in causing morbidity in the majority of Cephalopoda. However, to date, reports of cephalopod diseases from Asia are scarce and lack detailed information on the description of specific characters. This paper presents a brief overview of various pathogens and produced diseases in Asian cephalopods, including coccidiosis by Aggregata, Anisakiasis, infection by the copepods Octopicola, and other abnormalities such as edema and broken skin. The coccidian Aggregata sp. that infects the definitive host Amphioctopus fangsiao is a heteroxenous parasite transmitted through the food web. Anisakids play an important role in Asia as parasitic disease for cephalopods and it is even transmitted to humans. Concerning the infection by copepods, Octopicola sp. is the only species of the family Octopicolidae reported from North Pacific waters. Other abnormalities like edema or broken skin may have been the result of bacterial infections, so that abnormalities could cause the degeneration and death observed in A. fangsiao.