Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Auburn, Alabama » Aquatic Animal Health Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #162893

Title: MONITORING RESULTS OF LESIONS IN YOUNG MENHADEN, BREVOORTIA TYRANNUS (LATROBE), IN CHESAPEAKE BAY: 1999 AND 2000

Author
item REIMSCHUESSEL, R - US FOOD AND DRUG ADMINIST
item GIESEKER, C - MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF NA
item BAYA, A - UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
item POYNTON, S - JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
item KANE, A - UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAMD
item BLAZER, V - US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
item Evans, Joyce
item KENT, M - OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
item MORAN, J - UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
item DRISCOLL, C - MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF NA

Submitted to: Annual Eastern Fish Health Workshop
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/18/2001
Publication Date: 4/23/2001
Citation: REIMSCHUESSEL, R., GIESEKER, C., BAYA, A., POYNTON, S., KANE, A.S., BLAZER, V., EVANS, J.J., KENT, M., MORAN, J.D., DRISCOLL, C. MONITORING RESULTS OF LESIONS IN YOUNG MENHADEN, BREVOORTIA TYRANNUS (LATROBE), IN CHESAPEAKE BAY: 1999 AND 2000. 26TH ANNUAL EASTERN FISH HEALTH WORKSHOP. 2001.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: As part of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources' routine monitoring program, Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) were collected during their seasonal presence in Chesapeake Bay tributaries to monitor for external lesions. In 1999, May-June, 0.39% of menhaden collected had external lesions and July-September, 0.49% of menhaden collected had lesions. In 2000, May-June, 0.05% of menhaden had external lesions and July-September, 4.56% of menhaden had lesions. Routine histopathological examinations were conducted of fish from the Pocomoke River, due to its history of fish kills and high lesion prevalence, as well as periodic comparisons to other tributaries. In late May 1999, 90% of Pocomoke R. juvenile menhaden had mature Kudoa sp. spores infecting their muscles, in contrast to 40% and 30% in the Transquaking and Nanticoke Rivers. In addition to Kudoa sp. spores, a highly invasive, plasmodial stage suggestive of a myxozoan was found in the tissues of the Pocomoke R. menhaden during late April through early July, 1999-2000. In both years, invasive plasmodia were present in juvenile menhaden for approximately 6 weeks (late May to early July, 1999; late April to early June, 2000). During this period, approximately 50% of the menhaden sampled for histology had plasmodial lesions in either muscles or viscera. Of the menhaden infected by the plasmodia, 63% had grossly observable lesions associated with the plasmodia. Here we present the epidemiological data from the 1999 and 2000 sampling seasons in comparison to some relevant environmental data.