Tenacibaculosis in Fish – Gross Pathology

Figure 1. Rainbow trout displaying tail and peduncle lesions.

Tenacibaculosis is primarily a skin infection causing ulcerative dermatitis in a range of commercially important species worldwide. Three species belonging to the genus Tenacibaculum have been associated with the disease: T. dicentrarchi, T. finnmarkense, and T. maritimum.   These bacteria are all Gram-negative and filamentous.  In marine fish, the most common isolate is T. maritimum. There is variation in the external pathological signs of the disease, depending on the species and age of the fish involved. Different names have been used for this usually ulcerative dermatitis; they include salt water columnaris...

Gas Bubble Disease

Figure 1. Rainbow trout with several gas bubbles in the anterior chamber. Note the haemorrhage both dorsally and ventrally, the latter “coning” through the ventral iris pore

Gas bubble disease (GBD) is the fish equivalent of the “bends” in human scuba divers. It is the result of gas coming out of solution in the bloodstream, thereby leading to the formation of emboli, especially in smaller blood vessels, including rete. Thus, lesions are common in gills, and the choroid gland of the eye. In water that is supersaturated, fish equilibriate with that supersaturated gas, just as human scuba divers equilibriate with gas at high pressures. It is not known precisely what prompts the...

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