Bacterial disease of cultured giant clam Tridacna gigas larvae

Abstract

Addition of the antibiotic chloramphenicol at 5 ppm reduced larval mortality and confirmed the involvement of bacteria in disease prior to settlement. Symptoms of bacterial disease were usually rapid and profuse bacterial growth on and in larval clams and disintegration of most tissues within 48 h. Results of tests in which larvae were exposed to 107 bacteria ml-1 suggested that bacteria belonging to the genera Vibrio and Aeromonas are often pathogenic to larval clams and that those in other genera are less frequently pathogenic. -from Authors