SPINAL FRACTURE DUE TO ELECTRIC SHOCK

Musculoskeletal System
by Carlos Sandoval
Atlantic salmon, presmolt, FW, exposed to electric shock. Note the spinal fracture associated haemorrhage. The cause of the electric shock was an energized cable that fell into the tank.

Bone is a highly anisotropic, viscoelastic material that has the ability to continually adapt to changes in its physiological or mechanical environment. The capacity of bone to resist mechanical forces and fractures depends not only on the quantity of bone tissue but also on its quality. Bone is a composite material, made from a collagenous matrix and from minerals. The collagenous matrix provides toughness (fracture resistance) and the minerals increase the bone’s stiffness (bending resistance). By itself, the mineral phase is brittle and fractures easily....

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Bacterial gill disease – Gross Pathology

Gills and Pseudobranchs
by Hugh Ferguson
This rainbow trout fingerling with BGD shows the typical flared opercula of respiratory distress. Note that the edge of the flared operculum is eroded. This erosion is typical of intensively-reared fish; its cause is unknown, but might be the result of higher-than-optimal bacterial enzymes in and around the branchial cavity. Whatever the cause, the consequence is a huge reduction in the ability of the animal to pump water due to elimination of the water-tight seal between the trailing edge of the operculum and the body of the fish (the cleithrum). Thus the negative pressure of the opercular pump is greatly reduced. And this in an animal that is trying to pump larger-than-normal volumes of water over its gills due to the hypoxaemia of BGD!

Bacterial gill disease (BGD) occurs in several species, but it is an especially serious problem of intensive salmonid culture, and in some parts of the world it is the most common disease, especially in fry and fingerlings. BGD is characterized by explosive morbidity and mortality rates, attributable to bacterial colonization of gill surfaces. Despite such pronounced clinical signs and high mortality, pathological changes are surprisingly few and hard to find in the acute disease. It is only when (if) the fish survive for a few...

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Jellyfish Lesions in Fish – Histopathology

Multisystem
by Hugh Ferguson
Figure 5. Phialella quadrata attached to gill raker of Atlantic salmon and showing necrosis of epithelium, loss of basement membrane, and underlying dermal haemorrhage. A close inspection of the interface between the jellyfish and the gill epithelium shows tube-like extensions reaching down through the epithelium – nematocysts?

The negative interactions between jellyfish and fish in aquaculture appear to be an increasing problem. This is partly due to increased numbers of jellyfish, associated with global warming, reduced numbers of their predators, and to the intensification of aquaculture operations in many coastal areas worldwide. Most reported problems have occurred in marine-farmed salmonids in northwest Europe. Nevertheless, aquaculture operations in other regions such as Asia, North America, and Australia have also been affected. Jellyfish involved are primarily cnidarians i.e. those species with stinging cells –...

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Gastric dilation & Air sacculitis or “Bloat” in salmonids – Gross Pathology

Gastrointestinal Tract
by Carlos Sandoval
Chinook salmon with “Bloat”. Note the severe abdominal distention.

Bloat is a non-infectious condition of salmonids where the abdomen is abnormally distended by an enlarged, fluid-filled stomach. The wall of the enlarged stomach wall is thin and flaccid. Occasionally the swimbladder is also affected.   The condition is seen in salmonids reared in sea water and fed fishmeal-based pelleted rations. While it has been reported occasionally in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) members of the genus Oncorhynchus are more susceptible. These include Rainbow trout (O. mykiss), Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha), and Coho salmon (O....

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Proliferative Kidney Disease in Salmonids (PKD) – Gross Pathology

Kidney
by Hugh Ferguson
Rainbow trout with PKD. There is a marked hyperplasia of interstitium with the kidney thrown into bulbous ridges. The reddening is tge result of secondary yersinia infection.

Proliferative kidney disease (PKD) is an endoparasitic disease of salmonid fish caused by Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae (Myxozoa: Malacosporea).  This chronic, largely renal interstitial disease is caused by the extraporogonic but intracellular stages of the parasite, which cause a severe granulomatous host response. The severity of the disease is linked to water temperature, with roughly 15 degrees °C as the cut-off: below that temperature, lesions and clinical disease are minimal. Above that temperature, however, lesions can be severe and mortality high. Inevitably, global warming has resulted in...

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