''Tenacibaculum'' is a

gram-negative Gram-negative bacteria are bacteria that, unlike gram-positive bacteria, do not retain the crystal violet stain used in the Gram staining method of bacterial differentiation. Their defining characteristic is that their cell envelope consists ...

and motile bacterial genus from the family of

Flavobacteriaceae Flavobacteriaceae is a family of rod-shaped gram negative bacteria. The family contains many environmental bacteria, with some species being potential pathogens. History The family of ''Flavobacteriaceae'' was first proposed by Reichenbach in 1 ...

. Many opportunistic pathogens for fish species are included in the genus ''Tenacibaculum'' including ''

Tenacibaculum maritimum ''Tenacibaculum maritimum'' is a bacterium from the genus of '' Tenacibaculum''. ''Tenacibaculum maritimum'' can cause skin infections in marine fish Saltwater fish, also called marine fish or sea fish, are fish that live in seawater. Saltwater ...

'', ''Tenacibaculum soleae'', ''Tenacibaculum discolor'', ''Tenacibaculum gallaicum'', and ''Tenacibaculum dicentrarchi''. These pathogens cause an ulcerative disease known as tenacibaculosis. Characteristics of tenacibaculosis include lesions on the body, necrosis, frayed fin, tail rot, eroded mouth, and sometimes necrosis on the gills and eyes. The disease can lead to mortality and can leave afflicted species susceptible to secondary infections from the open lesions. ''Tenacibaculosis'' is also known as salt water columnaris disease, gliding bacterial disease of sea fish, bacterial stomatitis, eroded mouth syndrome, and black patch necrosis. It is thought, tough not proven, that medusas and

salmon louse The salmon louse (''Lepeophtheirus salmonis'') is a species of copepod in the genus ''Lepeophtheirus''. It is a sea louse, a parasite living mostly on Salmonidae, salmon, particularly on Pacific salmon, Pacific and Atlantic salmon, Atlantic salmo ...

help spread the bacteria.

Etiology

Diagnosis of the disease is conducted through cultivation and biochemical characterization. T. maritimum is also detectable internally through real-time RT-PCR. The bacterium targets teeth, which is high in the calcium needed to promote their growth. ''T. maritimum'' can also be isolated from the kidney, suggesting it is systematic.

Affected species

Many fish species around the world are affected by tenacibaculosis caused by ''T. maritimum''. Species in Japan that are affected by tenacibaculosis include the blackhead seabream (''Acanthopagrus schlegelii''), red seabream (''Pagrus major''), Japanese flounder (''Paralichthys olivaceous''), Yellowtail Seriola quinqueradiata, and Rock bream (''Oplegnathus fasciatus''). In Europe, affected species include Dover sole (''Solea solea''), Turbot (''Scophthalmus maximus''), Atlantic salmon Salmo salar, Gilthead seabream (''Sparus aurata'') in Spain, and sea bass (''Dicentrarchus labrax'') in France. In North America, white sea bass (''Atractoscion nobilis''), Pacific sardine (''Sardinops sagax''), northern anchovy (''Engraulis mordax''), and Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tschawytscha'') were found to be afflicted by ''T. maritimum''. In Australia, rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss''), striped trumpeter (''Latris lineata''), greenback flounder (''Rhombosolea tapirina''), yellow-eye mullet (''Aldrichetta forsteri''), and black bream (''Acanthopagrus butcheri'') were also afflicted. ''T. solea'' caused tenacibaculosis in fish species sole ''Solea senegalensis'' Kaup, brill (''Scophthalmus rhombus''), and wedge sole (''Dicologoglossa cuneata''). ''T. discolor'' was found isolated from fish species ''D. labrax'' in Italy. ''T. dicentrarchi'' was discovered on the Chilean red conger eel (''Genypterus chilensis''). ''Tenacibaculum'' has also been the cause of mortalitity in

shellfish Shellfish, in colloquial and fisheries usage, are exoskeleton-bearing Aquatic animal, aquatic invertebrates used as Human food, food, including various species of Mollusca, molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish ...

species as well. Tenacibaculum soleae has been seen to cause mortality in adult Pacific oysters 11 days post-infection.

Etiology

Affected species

References

Further reading