Pathogenicity of anamorphic fungi Plectosporium oratosquillae and Acremonium sp. to mantis shrimp oratosquilla oratoria

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine pathogenicity of anamorphic fungi Plectosporium oratosquillae NJM 0662 and Acremonium sp. NJM 0672, which were isolated from gills of mantis shrimp Oratosquilla oratoria caught in Yamaguchi and Aichi Prefectures in Japan. Cumulative mortality of the mantis shrimp injected with a high dose (5.0 × 10 6 conidia/mL) and a low dose (5.0 × 10 4 conidia/mL) of the isolate NJM 0662 reached 100% and 60% at day 25, respectively. Cumulative mortality of the shrimp injected with the high dose and the low dose of the isolate NJM 0672 reached 100% and 80% at day 25, respectively. The gill lesions in the shrimp experimentally infected with the fungi were similar to those of naturally infected shrimp. Histopathologically, the hyphae and conidia were found in the gill filaments and heart, and the hyphae were encapsulated by hemocytes in the gill filaments and the base of gills. The result confirmed that these two anamorphic fungi were pathogenic to mantis shrimp. © 2009 The Japanese Society of Fish Pathology.