抄録
Red spot disease is one of the devastating bacterial diseases of cultured eels in Japan. The first outbreaks were observed in 1971 and the causative agent was identified as Pseudomonas anguilliseptica.
In this paper, the pathological changes of infected fish, epidemiology, characteristics and pathogenicity of the causative agent, and immunology are briefly reviewed.
The disease has three epidemiological characteristics: 1) it prevailed in brackish-water ponds, 2) prevailed when the water temperature was below 20°C or ceased when it rose to 27°C, and 3) prevailed among the Japanese eels (Anguilla japonica). These characteristics were found to be closely related to the nature of the causative agent.
Based on these findings, the following methods are proposed as prophylaxis: 1) For the culture of Japanese eels, water temperature of 27°C or above and freshwater ponds are preferable, and 2) European eels are recommended for the ponds where the above conditions are not provided.
