Title: Temporal and Spatial Distribution of the Harmful Diatoms Chaetoceros concavicornis and Chaetoceros c
1Temporal and Spatial Distribution of the Harmful
Diatoms Chaetoceros concavicornis and Chaetoceros
convolutus along the British Columbia Coast
- L. J. Albright, S. Johnson, and A. Yousif
2Chaetoceros concavicornis
Nomarski differential interference contrast
Phase contrast
3Chaetoceros concavicornis line drawings
4Chaetoceros convolutus
5Chaetoceros convolutus line drawings
6Apparent goals
- Determine a minimum lethal concentration of
harmful Chaetoceros spp. - Determine safe areas for penned salmon based on
local harmful Chaetoceros spp. concentrations
7How they harm fish
- Barbed spines get caught in fish gills
- Cause excessive mucus production
- Limit gas exchange over gills
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121998 Harmful Chaetoceros spp. first reported in
early March Only Hotham Sound reached lethal
concentrations
13Harmful Chaetoceros spp. concentrations were
greatest in Jervis Inlet Lethal concentrations
also found in Call Inlet (Stations 39-40) in
October cruise
Jervis Inlet
Call Inlet
14Effect of salinity
Experimental cultures
Natural seawater
15Discussion
- Areas of phytoplankton-related penned salmon
kills coincide with areas of high concentrations
of harmful Chaetoceros spp. - Cochlan et al. subsurface chlorophyll maximum
12-14m possible that harmful diatoms lay below
0-10m depth samples - Seawater bodies with salinity over 26 are most
prone to containing harmful Chaetoceros spp. - Possibility stratification of Strait of Georgia
more susceptible to blooms than turbulent
Johnstone - Further study needed regarding temperature,
nutrients, grazing, and latitude
16Sub-lethal concentrations of the harmful diatoms,
Chaetoceros concavicornis and C. convolutus,
increase mortality rates of penned Pacific salmon
- L. J. Albright, C. Z. Yang, and S. Johnson
17Goals
- Determine if apparently sub-lethal concentrations
of harmful Chaetoceros spp. increased mortality
rates of penned salmon - Noticed that mortalities increased due to
apparent vibriosis or bacterial kidney disease
(BKD) epizootics after sub-lethal - epizootic affecting a large number of animals at
the same time within a particular region or
geographic area. Used of a disease. - Attempt to recreate a Chaetoceros-bacterial
pathogen-salmon mortality interaction under
laboratory conditions
186 fish pens
19Bloom 1 mid-March to mid-April Bloom 2 mid-May
to late May Bloom 3 mid-July
Mortality rates increase coincided with 2
harmful Chaetoceros spp. Blooms No harmful
Chaetoceros spp. bloom in mid-July no fish
mortality increase in mid-July
Mean harmful Chaetoceros spp. concentrations
during two blooms were 0.49 and 0.37
cells/ml Apparent cause of death in most cases
vibriosis
20Bloom 1 mid-March to late March 1.55
cells/ml Bloom 2 mid-April to late April
3.13 cells/ml Likely causes of death BKD and
vibriosis
21Bloom 1 mid-March 0.060 cells/ml Bloom 2 late
April 0.024 cells/ml No increased fish
mortality during blooms
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23Laboratory experiment methods
- Tank 1 untreated
- Tank 2 Vibrio anguillarum added on day 3
- Tank 4 C. concavicornis added daily
- Day 1-2 21-37 cells/ml
- Day 3-7 14-21 cells/ml
- Tank 3 same as Tank 4, but V. anguillarum added
on day 3 - Fish sampled from Tanks 2, 3, and 4
- after 6 hours, and every day for 5 days
24Tank 4 all fish dead in 7 days
Tank 3 38 mortality in 10 days
No deaths in Tanks 1 and 2
25Discussion
- Possible that the fish immuno-protective system
is compromised - Dominant pathogen (Vibrio, BKD, other) is the
cause of death when weakened fish encounter
harmful Chaetoceros spp. - Fish recovering from bacterial infection are more
susceptible - Concentration as low as 0.4 cells/ml can cause
sub-lethal effects (lethal gt 5 cells/ml)
26Pictures and links
- http//thalassa.gso.uri.edu/HABChaet
- http//thalassa.gso.uri.edu/plankton/diatoms/gener
a/chaetoc/genus/chaet.htm - http//www.hmsc.orst.edu/classes/MB492/Gregchaetoc
eros