Red Sea Bream Iridoviral Disease in Hatchery-Reared Devil Stinger Inimicus japonicus

Abstract

A disease outbreak occurred in hatchery-reared devil stinger Inimicus japonicus (approximately 2 g). Abnormally enlarged cells specific for red sea bream iridoviral disease (RSIVD) were observed in the moribund fish. Red sea bream iridovirus (RSIV) genome (10^6.1-8.9 copies/mg tissue) were detected from the dead fish. The nucleotide sequence of the MCP gene of the isolated virus was identical to those of the RSIV isolates previously reported in Japan. In an infection trial, all of devil stinger intraperitoneally inoculated with the virus (10^2.3 TCID₅₀/fish) died and the viral genome was detected from the dead fish at 10^6.9-9.2 copies/mg tissue. This is the first report of RSIVD in devil stinger.